Let posturing begin
3 unbeatens, one- loss Alabama top initial College Football Playoff poll.
Three unbeaten teams — Clemson, LSU and Ohio State — and once- beaten Alabama held down the top four spots in the first rankings of the 2015 college football season from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, released Tuesday evening.
It marked the first turn at No. 1 for Clemson since it won the 1981 national championship.
While the initial rankings placed once- beaten Notre Dame at No. 5, they echoed the final rankings of 2014 in that they omitted the two Big 12
Conference titans from the top four. Baylor ( 7- 0), ranked No. 2 in the media and coaches’ polls,
is No. 6. TCU ( 8- 0) comes in at No. 8, after Michigan State at No. 7.
Committee chairman Jeff Long, Arkansas’ athletic director, told ESPN the committee remained uncertain of the “true strength” of Baylor and TCU because of their weaker schedules to this point.
The top four teams in 12- member committee’s sixth and final ranking of Dec. 6 will square off in the second College Football Playoff, set to begin Dec. 31 in Miami and Arlington, Texas.
In choosing Clemson over LSU, the committee valued “the quality of their victories and certainly the Notre Dame victory at home,” Long said. “But they have four teams that have better than a .500 record that they’ve beaten.”
Among the 11 unbeaten teams still going, Clemson had the victory against the highest- ranked opponent, 2422 over Notre Dame on Oct. 3. LSU is the only unbeaten team to defeat two of the committee’s top 25 ( Mississippi State and Florida). Iowa ( 8- 0), which has no victories over ranked teams but a topranked three over bowl- eligible teams, was ninth.
As the defending national champion, Ohio State may have perceived a slight in its No. 3 ranking, which differs from its No. 1 spot in The Associated Press media and the coaches’ polls. That No. 3 slot, however, represents an increase of 13 places over where the Buckeyes began in 2014 before they rose steadily toward an emphatic playoff title.
“I just think it’s a sign that we’ve had a great season to this point,” Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN regarding his team’s ranking. “I don’t think anybody should be having a party, and I don’t think anybody should be disappointed.”
Some parts of a puzzle with 11 unbeaten teams and 12 once- beaten teams will clear up Saturday when LSU plays at Alabama, No. 16 Florida State plays at Clemson and TCU plays at No. 14 Oklahoma State, which at 8- 0 is the lowest- ranked unbeaten team in the bunch.
Of particular curiosity was Baylor, because the Bears have pushed familiar gauges up against each other. They have averaged 61.1 points and 686.1 yards per game, both No. 1 in the country, yet they have done so against six FBS opponents with a combined record of 16- 32. Baylor’s weak nonconference schedule in 2014 proved one of the foremost reasons it wound up at No. 5, barely out of the playoff.
The inclusion of Alabama in the top four presented a potential issue that could stir argument because Ole Miss,
which is No. 18 at 7- 2, beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa and controls its own chances of winning the SEC West title, leaving the possibility of an SEC champion being omitted from the eventual four- team playoff in favor of a non- champion included.
The Crimson Tide snared No. 4 largely through the neutralsite victory over Wisconsin ( 7- 2) and their commanding road victories at Texas A& M ( 6- 2), which is ranked No. 19, and at Georgia ( 5- 3).