Playoff Rankings: Tennessee No. 1 Makes Perfect Sense, But Committee Misses the Boat On TCU at 7

November 1, 2022 by CollegeFootballPlayoff.com and CollgeFootballPoll.com

Tennessee, as it should, gets the top spot of the initial College Football Playoff Committee Rankings, but they failed miserably in their placement of TCU. Not only are the Horned Frogs not in the top 4 as they should be, but they can't be found until you get to No. 7.

OK, there's plenty of football yet to be played, but you have to wonder what the committee is valuing if TCU's 3rd-best strength of record with wins over 4 ranked teams in-a-row isn't enough to earn more respect.

Boo Corrigan, Committee Chair, offered some silly excuses.

"TCU has had a number of games that they've played where they really have had to come from behind", Said Corrigan. "Timely defense I think is what we have talked about in the room, but that as far as that dominant standpoint or that ability to dominate that side -- one side of the ball or the other is really what was lacking."

So the point here is that trailing in the 1st, second or third quarters is worse than losing in the final seconds, such as 'Bama did at Tennessee? Corrigan appears to be saying at much in his defense of the ranking. And further seems to imply that the committee, as a whole, is only impressed if teams win with defense, period, and explosive offenses that can overcome deficits at any minute are discounted.

Corrigan said, "We're looking at the totality of the game as we go through it. But again, you're looking for that -- Alabama has got the dominant wins over Mississippi State, at Arkansas, the close win at Texas. Bryce Young missed the Texas A&M game, which was close, and again, TCU with the wins against Oklahoma State at home and Kansas State at home, really good wins, really good team. But we felt like the defense struggled to keep points off the board at times, but it doesn't take away from the season they've had thus far."

Translation, the playoff committee loves Alabama, not so much TCU.

We're not trying to carry the water for TCU here, but his answers were lame and close-minded, at best.

That said, the polls also have TCU 7th, as do the Congrove Computer Rankings.

The committee also didn't set up a 1-2 battle for this week between Georgia and Tennessee in Athens. They placed Ohio State 2nd and Georgia 3rd. Clemson gets in at No. 4.

The first two out are Michigan and Alabama.

We aren't that shocked to see Clemson in the top 4 as we suspected the Tigers would get a little extra love from the committee because it has been a blue blood of the system for the last several years.

We can find plenty of fault with the rankings in other places. A couple gaffes that stand out are placing a 1-loss Illinois at 16 (should be much higher), and a 2-loss LSU above a 1-loss Ole Miss (even if LSU did win the head-to-head).

We'll have to see how the rankings shake out over the rest of November. Hopefully, they make more sense going forward.

The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 ranked team vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games – the Cotton, Fiesta, Peach, Orange Bowl, Sugar and Rose. This season's Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 31, 2022, at the Peach and Fiesta Bowls. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA.

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