College Football Playoff rankings: ESPN projects top 6 on Selection Sunday

College Football Playoff rankings are fraught with debate, and Sunday afternoon will only ramp it up even more. As ESPN reporter Heather Dinich described it, “No matter which way you slice it, this is going to be a controversial decision for the College Football Playoff selection committee.”

Nobody how it unfolds, at least one team, possibly more, will be disappointed, and a fan base irritated.

It will come at about 12:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. As Dinich reported, “it will have been the most difficult decision the committee has made in the decade of the 4-team Playoff. Multiple teams are going to be angry. SEC runner-up Georgia could become the first No. 1 seed to fall out of the top 4 on Selection Day. Florida State could be the first undefeated Power 5 champ to be excluded from the Playoff.”

Many of the teams outside of Michigan and Washington have used the “best teams” argument versus the “most deserving” and that will be a big talking point on Sunday afternoon.

“It is best,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN on Tuesday. “Most deserving is not anything in the committee’s lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order, and that’s what they do. Just keep that word in mind: best teams.”

Dinich projected the final field to be:

1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Florida State

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.