OSU stillNo. 4 in College Football Playoff rankings
TheCollegeFootballPlayoff rankingswere released Tuesday night with no changes in the top four.
AlabamaisNo. 1 withNotre Damesecond, Clemson third and Ohio State fourth.
Those teams would play for the national championship if the playoff were up next — but it’s not.
Before the final rankings are formulated, the undefeated Crimson Tide are set to takeonNo. 7 Florida inthe SEC Championship game on Saturday, while the Fighting Irish and Tigers will face off against eachother in theACC title game.
Ohio State will play No. 14 Northwestern the same day at noon in Indianapolis.
Cincinnati remains in the top10, buttheunbeatenBearcats slipped a spot to No. 9 after having another game canceled Saturday.
They are scheduled toplay Tulsa in the AAC ChampionshipgameSaturdaynight, Cincinnati’s first game in almost a month as a result of games being wiped out by positive
COVID-19 cases.
The final rankings will be released Sunday.
The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowlarescheduledtohostthe national semifinals on Jan. 1 with thechampionshipgame to be played Jan. 11 inMiami.
In a teleconference after the release of the rankings, CFP chair Gary Barta conceded a schedule ravaged by the pandemic has made
the committee’s job harder than usual.
Manyofthetopteamswere idle lastweek, andsomecontenders have played twice as many games as others.
“It’s a vexing problem to compare teams that have played10or 11gamestothose that have played five or six, but in my opinion the committee has done a good job working through that,” said
Barta, who is the athletic director at Iowa.
After having three games canceled, including two in the past three weeks, Ohio State stands at 5-0whileAlabama and Notre Dame are 10-0, Clemson is 9-1, No. 5 Texas A&M is 7-1 and Nos. 6 and 7 Iowa State and Florida are both 8-2.
Asked why Ohio State is nine spots ahead of USC despite both teams having thesamerecord, Barta noted the Buckeyes’ win over No. 11 Indiana and indicated the committee has been more impressed with theway Ohio State haswonitsgamescompared to USC.
“There’s not a top-25 win in those five games (for USC),” Barta said. “Theother thing, three of those games are against teams that are under .500. In three of those games, USC was behind in the fourth quarter and had to— and good for them, they made the comeback — but I think this past weekend it was inside of 30 seconds that theyhadtomakeacomeback and win.
It’s important to win, but thecommitteewatchesallthe games, and who you play is important and howyou win those games is also important.”
Also appearing on the call was CFP executive director BillHancock, whoconfirmed the committee still intends for one of the semifinals to be played at the Rose Bowl despite current local regulations preventing any fans from attending the game, including players’ families, at this time.
That reality has led to speculation the game could be moved, particularly with the likelihood both participants will be based somewhere east of the Mississippi.
“Giventherealitiesof2020, we always reserve the right to make decisions as late as possible,” Hancocksaid.“For example, what happens if the state of California shuts down entirely and doesn’t allow any games. So we’re keeping our eye on the situation, but we are planning to play that semifinal at the Rose Bowl.”
He indicated the CFP is still hoping to see families allowed to attend.
“We have long-standing agreements in place, and I may be old fashioned, but I think it’s important to honor agreements,” Hancock said. “We are planning to play the gameinCalifornia, andwe’re hoping the state will fix the situation and will allow the families to be there.”