College Football Playoff chairman explains reasoning behind Texas A&M, Florida’s initial rankings
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Texas A&M and Florida found themselves just outside of the Top 4 in the first College Football Playoff Top 25 of 2020. The Aggies were placed at No. 5, while the Gators were the 2nd team out at No. 6.
Following the unveiling of the rankings on ESPN, Gary Barta, chairman of the playoff committee, discussed why they decided to rate the teams the way they did.
“When it came down to it, they were close enough,” Barta said on ESPN, per Texas A&M beat writer Travis L. Brown. “The only loss Texas A&M has is to No. 1 Alabama and as a committee we decided that they needed to be a nod ahead.”
Texas A&M’s remaining schedule has it playing against LSU in College Station on Saturday, followed by a trip to Auburn on Dec. 5 and Tennessee on Dec. 12. Meanwhile, Florida hosts Kentucky on Saturday, visits Tennessee on Dec. 5 and wraps up the regular season against LSU on Dec. 12.
Those are 3 winnable games for both teams, and certainly neither can afford any slipups if they are to make a case for themselves for a Playoff berth.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
