Now it’s Michigan State’s turn to complain

The right of grievance, always a relevant issue in college football, shifted Tuesday night when the second College Football Playoff rankings emerged.

It went away from Cincinnati, which budged from a controversial No. 6 to No. 5 even after a sub-par win, to Michigan State.

The Spartans (8-1) tumbled even further than expected from their No. 3 ranking of last week after their decisive defeat at Purdue. Somehow they wound up at No. 7, a notch behind No. 6 Michigan (8-1), the team they defeated 37-33 two Saturdays ago.

That did figure to wreak some rancor, even as the CFP selection committee — eight athletic directors, one former coach, three former big-time players and one media representative — doesn’t tend to sit around factoring in the wreaking of rancor, profitable though rancor may be.

“These arguments were going on in the room,” committee chairman Gary Barta, the athletic director at Iowa, told ESPN. “I can just tell you that the debate on this topic lasted a long time.”

He said, in a statement sure to stir its share of displeasure, “It was discussed that Michigan might be the more complete team — offensively, defensively” — a more complete team that lost to the other team in question.

He also said, “Stay tuned.” Michigan State, after all, plays at Ohio State on Nov. 20.

Georgia (9-0) remained No. 1, an unarguable choice as the nation’s most dominant team thus far. Alabama (8-1) remained No. 2 even after a semi-alarming escape against LSU in which the Crimson Tide rushed for all of 6 yards in a 20-14 win at home.

Oregon ( 8-1) took Michigan State’s place at No. 3, and Ohio State (8-1) took Oregon’s place at No. 4. Cincinnati (9-0), even as it had to hold off eight late Tulsa plays within shouting distance of the end zone to win, 28-20, moved up a notch to No. 5, the highest ranking yet given to a team from the Group of Five.

No Group of Five team has made the playoff in this concept that began in 2014.

The ranking for Oregon was the highest since the Ducks finished No. 2 at the end of the 2014 regular season, after which they reached the championship game and took a 4220 mauling from Ohio State.

The committee rounded out the top 10 with No. 8 Oklahoma (9-0), No. 9 Notre Dame (8-1) and No. 10 Oklahoma State (8-1). The top10 placement for Oklahoma State, which just flustered West Virginia, 24-3, on the road, was the Cowboys’ highest since a No. 10 ranking on the penultimate list of 2016.

At No. 11, Texas A&M (7-2) stood as the top two-loss team, largely because the Aggies have beaten No. 2 Alabama and No. 17 Auburn as they head for a bout at Mississippi (7-2), which inched up a spot to No. 15.

Beyond the Michigans and their eternal squabble, the punishment for malfeasance last weekend did seem slight, perhaps a byproduct of a dearth of reliable giants this season. Baylor (7-2), which will play Oklahoma in Waco this Saturday, dropped only one notch, from No. 12 to No. 13, after its 30-28 loss at unranked TCU. Wake Forest (8-1), which fumbled a 45-27 lead to lose, 58-55, at unranked North Carolina, fell from No. 9 but only to No. 12. Auburn (6-3), which was throttled, 20-3, by Texas A&M, went mildly from No. 13 to No. 17.