College Football Playoff Committee Releases Final Rankings; Who Made the 12-Team Field?
The College Football Playoff final rankings were announced earlier today. There were two important parts to the rankings. First, the top four seeds get first-round byes in the College Football Playoff. This is important, as those teams advance one round in the playoffs.
Second, the top 12 teams make the playoffs, so those on the outside looking in will not be happy. There is a lot of pressure on the College Football Playoff Committee. Did your favorite team make the College Football Playoff?
Final College Football Playoff Rankings
The top four teams in the College Football Playoff, teams that get a bye, are spots that are given to conference champions. At least, that is the idea. That is not exactly what happened this year. Indiana was atop the rankings as the Big Ten Conference champion. They go to the Rose Bowl. Ohio State fell one spot to number two. Ohio State lost a titanic Big Ten Championship game to Indiana.
Georgia rose to number three in the CFP rankings. Texas Tech, which won the Big 12, was ranked fourth. So those top four teams get a first-round bye.
Those four teams will be joined by eight more. There was some upheaval at the bottom of these rankings since the Duke Blue Devils upset the University of Virginia Cavaliers. These eight teams will play four first-round games. The Oregon Ducks were number five. Ole Miss stayed at number six, and Texas A&M stayed at number seven. Oklahoma was number eight. Alabama was number nine, followed by Miami, Tulane, and James Madison.
The way this works is that James Madison will play at Oregon. The eight and nine seeds will face each other, so Oklahoma and Alabama will square off at Oklahoma. The eleven and six seeds will play each other. So, Tulane will play at Ole Miss. Finally, the number ten and number seven seeds will play at the number seven seed. So, Miami will play at Texas A&M. Ohio State will get the winner of that game.
The winners of these four games will play the teams that had a bye in the first round. The 12/5 winner plays the number four. The winner of the 8/9 game plays the number one seed. The 11/6 winner plays the number three seed. Finally, the 10/7 winner will play the number two seed. These games will be the college football playoff quarterfinal games.
College Football Playoff Committee
It is important to know who comprises the College Football Playoff Committee, since these decisions are consequential. The committee is comprised of University presidents and chancellors from all 10 Football Subdivision conferences, and Notre Dame.
A group of 13 people with experience as coaches, student-athletes, college administrators, and journalists, along with some athletics directors, make up the selection committee. Members of the committee are Chris Ault, Troy Dannen, Mark Dantonio, Jeff Long, Ivan Maisel, Chris Massaro, Mack Rhoades (chair), Mike Riley, David Sayler, Wesley Walls, Carla Williams, and Hunter Yurachek.
Conclusion
The College Football Playoff is big business. Most people in the United States will be watching these games. We now enter a bit of a dead period until the playoff begins at the end of December. Those first-round games take place on 19 and 20 December. The top four seeds get into the action in games on December 31 and January 1.
