The final AP Poll before Tuesday’s first College Football Playoff rankings stirred up exactly the kind of debate it was built to spark.
Ohio State’s slide from No. 2 to No. 11 after a 30-18 loss to now-No. 18 USC was the headline move, and it came with a notable wrinkle: the Buckeyes became the fourth No. 2 team in a row to lose to an unranked opponent. Even with that opening, undefeated Utah and UCLA did not move into the spot.
Georgia’s loss to unranked Auburn only added to the conversation, especially with the SEC landing 10 teams in the poll and drawing what looks like clear favoritism.
The AP and Coaches polls are not what the CFP committee officially uses to build its rankings. The committee leans on on-field performance, strength of schedule, head-to-head results and other factors. Still, there is no denying the AP Poll is meant to send a message to the committee, and this one has plenty of that baked in.
The biggest problem sits near the bottom of the rankings.
South Carolina, a three-loss team, is still in the mix after blowing out a slumping Oklahoma squad. Florida, also with three losses, remains involved after being dominated by Georgia. Both teams help boost the value of wins for other SEC contenders, which is the kind of circular logic that can shape the whole picture.
The Gamecocks have ranked wins over Tennessee and Florida, and they count as a “quality win” for Kentucky and Alabama. Florida’s ranked wins over Ole Miss and Texas are helping Georgia and Missouri.
That’s the reality of an SEC that has been chewing itself up, and the poll is rewarding it. If that trend carries into next year, the result could be unnecessary conference rematches in a 24-team playoff, with three- or four-loss teams getting in while better records stay home because their league doesn’t carry those three letters.
That raises the obvious question: do we really need to see the 10th-best SEC team get the chance to compete for a national championship over a top-five ACC or Big 12 team or the second- or third-best Group of Six squad who actually won their conference?
There is a chance the CFP committee cleans up some of the AP’s mess on Tuesday. No.
7 BYU should land above No. 4 Notre Dame because of the head-to-head result, and No.
13 Texas Tech and No. 14 Wake Forest could also work their way in.
Even so, this AP Poll feels like a warning sign for what’s ahead with the 24-team playoff.
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