CFB Playoff Rankings: The Committee is Telling us the Group of Five Doesn't Matter

College footballCollege Football PlayoffsNCAA

Dec 22

One this was abundantly clear when the CFP Playoff Committee released its final rankings on Sunday: The Group of Five doesn’t matter.

They didn’t need to put it into words, they didn’t need to hop on ESPN and tell everyone in an interview, the final rankings did all the talking.

You. Don’t. Matter.

When the playoff was introduced in 2014, the goal was to bring more competitive balance to the sport. It has done the exact opposite. We are the two favorites winning away from Clemson/Alabama for the fourth time in six years. In fact, the only playoff championship that didn’t have either of the two programs in it was the first one in 2014 (Ohio State vs Oregon).

But that’s not even the worst part of how watered down the system has gotten.

Introducing the playoff in 2014 was supposed to give the best Group of Five teams even the slightest chance to make the playoff. Just a little bit of consideration for teams that have worked so hard to dominate their regular season schedule. Instead, the committee hasn’t lifted so much of a finger to help the Group of Five.

How can they expect to have a chance when three-loss Florida, who lost their last two games of the season, was still ranked above 9-0 undefeated conference champion Cincinnati. Or when two-loss Oklahoma jumps the Bearcats as well when both teams won their conference championships.

Cincy gets rewarded with the G5’s lone NY6 bowl appearance against Georgia in the Peach Bowl. Be prepared though, if the Bearcats win, it's going to be because Georgia didn’t try hard enough, not because the Bulldogs were actually blown out by the only two currently-ranked teams it faced all year, but hey SEC baby!

What about 11-0 Coastal Carolina, who didn’t even get a chance to play in their conference championship due to COVID-19 concerns? The Chanticleers ended the regular season ranked at No. 12, behind two three-loss teams, and two two-loss teams. One of those three-loss teams, Iowa State, lost by 17 to Louisiana to start the season, the same Louisiana team Coastal beat on the road in October. Losing to Louisiana apparently doesn’t matter that much for Iowa State, according to the Committee. But if Coastal lost that same game, would they even be ranked?

So instead of playing in a much-deserved NY6 Bowl game, Coastal gets relegated to the Cure Bowl vs Liberty. A good matchup regardless, but Coastal deserved much better.

This isn’t anything new. The highest final ranking we have seen for an undefeated Group of Five team is No. 8, Cincinnati this year, and UCF in 2018. Both teams have plenty to complain about regarding their final ranking.

Unfortunately for them, nothing seems to be changing.

The Committee keeps telling us it cares about the Group of Five. It keeps saying that they have a chance to make the playoff and they will get serious consideration. They are lying, the current system won’t allow it. Too many excuses to be made in favor of Power Five programs, losing actually doesn't matter for them.

Too many empty promises.