Final College Football Playoff top 25 rankings released
The final College Football Playoff rankings heading into the sport’s postseason are out as the top 25 poll was just revealed on ESPN.
The Playoff field this season is No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Ohio State.
Here are the New Year’s Six Bowl matchups that have been decided:
Fiesta Bowl: No. 10 Iowa State vs. No. 25 Oregon, Orange Bowl: No. 13 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Texas A&M, Peach Bowl: No. 8 Cincinnati vs. No. 9 Georgia and the Cotton Bowl: No. 6 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Florida.
This season’s Playoff Semifinals are set to take place Friday, January 1, 2021, at the Rose Bowl Game (which has been moved to Arlington’s AT&T Stadium) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The College Football Playoff National Championship is set to be played Monday, January 11, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Here are the final College Football Playoff rankings heading into bowl season:
It’s fascinating that four of the top ten teams are from the SEC, and then 1 is in the 11-25, but lovable garbage teams like NC State who would struggle with Tennessee are somehow also ranked.
Notre Dame remaining in the playoffs makes a lot more sense now, though.
Wow, so Notre Dame and Clemson could potentially play 3 times in one season.
Of course that would only happen if Alabama’s plane gets shot down.
Tiger TD,
I agree not showing up is the only way Bama loses. It’s going to be as interesting a game as their last one.
Two Big 12 teams in the top 10 is a joke. One of them ranked higher than Florida is hilarious.
One thing I love… Louisiana’s Ragin Cajuns ranked higher than the Texas Longhorns. Sweet.
Nice to see where the short horns are ranked. They really did Herman wrong shopping his job. I wonder if Herman really had his agent inquire about the USCe job.
It’s amazing with all of the resources available to any Texas coach how they can’t be more successful then they have been in the past 15 years.
2020 final college football Play-Off Rankings. If you’re a Media Darling, you did just fine.
What do you get for losing to No.1, and then winning more games in a row than Ohio St even played? If you’re Texas A&M, you got screwed.
Another example: Georgia with JT Daniels at quarterback:
41.7 points per game
498.3 yards per game
7.57 yards per play
18 points given up per game
Oklahoma last three games:
31.7 points per game
384.3 yards per game
5.94 yards per play
16 points given up per game
How is Oklahoma’s body of work better than Georgia’s? Oklahoma lost to Kansas State and Iowa State, who lost to Louisiana. Georgia has only lost to Florida and Alabama.
But Oklahoma is a Media Darling, so they get ranked higher.
Media Bias on full display…
Tim,
I agree with your take. For me it’s just enjoyable watching Jimbo get hosed.
Yep, just another example of how the mainstream media bias plays out and has heavy influence with control over college football and also with elections. It’s very, very sad.
dd33, Control and influence. Sad, indeed.
I think they also remember the how y’all looked before Daniels. They also might have looked at how bad the teams that Daniels beat were. How is a 3 loss UF over undefeated Cincy.
Since only the top 4 matter why such a ruckus? Win your bowl game (I expect you do) and see how it shakes out.
I sincerely hope Georgia beats the living snot out of Cincinnati. Bowl games may be a rare circumstance where COVID protocols actually help maintain focus.
Seriously though, if there’s ever been a better argument for expanding the playoff….
No longer can the haters say that only the top 4 teams deserve to be in the playoff. The simple fact is that you can’t just boil it down to 4 teams. Look at Cincinatti…what the hell else can they ever do to earn a top 4 spot?? It’s absurd. They’re a D1 college team that supposedly has the right to earn a spot in the playoff, but no realistic chance to ever break the top 4. It’s inherently unfair, based solely on biased opinions and strength of schedule. I agree that strength of schedule is a factor, but it shouldn’t be a limiting factor when a team steamrolls everyone on their “weak” schedule. They deserve a chance but the boring system is rigged against them.
Instead we get to watch Bama, Clemson, and Ohio State every year. The 4th spot is always Notre Dame or Oklahoma. Yes, they deserve to be in the playoff but stop precluding the rest of the country from even having a chance.
Only 2 teams truly belong in this year.
I agree. Expand to 8 and allow more competition. Accomplishes more than just more teams. Tie is some more bowl games so players want to play. End G5 complaints. Top teams should not be concerned with 8 if they are truly best.
The problem is there aren’t other teams that can keep up with that group. Was Texas A&M really playoff caliber this year? They got blown out 52-24 against Alabama earlier this season. Cincinnati hasn’t been anything special to watch, and Oklahoma has been somewhat of a non-factor this season despite winning the Big-12 for the sixth time in a row. It’s hard to even justify Notre Dame and Ohio State’s bids considering Ohio State’s weak schedule and Notre Dame just getting smoked by a healthier Clemson team. Outside of 2014, it has been like this every year since the inception of the playoff. Two or three really great teams then 4-7 all having decent cases but no legitimate chance of winning the national championship.
Then why even play the games? lets just award Bama the National championship every year since apparently there’s no value to competing in games.
My point is that regardless of who appears to be the best, it’s not fair to exclude teams that deserve a chance to compete for a championship. Any championship in any sport has a favorite. In the NFL, occasionally a wild card team wins the super bowl. And we all acknowledge that team as the champion despite not having as good of a season as their opponent.
I feel like TAMU and Cincinnati were robbed, but I can’t honestly say that Notre Dame or Clemson or Ohio State should have been left out either. It’s just not going to work with 4 teams any more.
Agreed.
A 3 point win over Tulsa and UCF means a blowout against Bama. Why waste a game, and risk injuries, for that? This ain’t basketball where one great player getting hot can lead to an upset in March Madness. The G5 should play for their own NC. Expanding the field isn’t going to lead some magical run by a G5 team. Also, if expanded, a 4-2 Oregon would be in the playoffs this season as Pac12 champs. Just no. Finally, expanding the playoff lessens the regular season by making losses matter less. I’d rather not see a team pull a Florida and sit its best player(s) because a loss wouldn’t matter and might actually help its seeding. But sure, let’s give everyone a chance, despite every Power 5 team having the same opportunity at the beginning of the season already.
I don’t mean that Florida sat their best player for that reason. They did that cause Mullen is dumb.
The medical staff did not allow Pitts to play, genius.
I would be in favor of the G5 doing their own thing, but that’s not the case.
Losses wont “matter less” in an expanded playoff. This argument is perhaps the worst of them all. You can’t be in the top 8 with a bunch of losses. In an average, non-covid year, teams usually only have 1 loss if they’re in the top 10. If it’s 2 losses, they’re to teams ranked in the top 5.
As for TAMU losing to Bama…we’ve already seen that 2 playoff teams can split games during the season. Clemson lost to Notre Dame in the season, then destroyed them yesterday in the ACC Championship game.
And stop spinning the narrative…we’re not “giving everyone a chance”. Only the TOP 8 TEAMS in the entire country would have a chance…that they earned by having dominant seasons. Losing 1 game shouldn’t end your freaking season. I know that spoiled Bama fans have a tough time with that concept, but it’s absurd. Clemson and Notre Dame weren’t penalized for having a good loss, but TAMU was. And TAMU lost to the undisputed number 1 team in the country. Total BS.
So Florida loses two games in a row…and drops a grand total of one spot from where they were two weeks ago? And with three losses is still ahead of unbeaten Cincinnati? Good grief….
I really think Florida would blow the doors off Cincinnati, but I get your point. These rankings are sad.
I don’t think Florida would beat Cincinnati at all. And darn sure not going to blow their doors!!! Watch the OU RAPE! Then say that.
The truth is that Florida was LUCKY to win the east. UGA had over 70% of their starting best defensive players out with injuries. When they played Florida!!! And 35 % of the starters were missing on offense. Including top receiver George Pickens!!! And because there just wasn’t time I guess to get him ready. We had to stay with Stetson Bennett. If JT Daniels would have played with a game or two under his belt. We probably beat Florida anyway!!!
But a fully healthy UGA team. With JT Daniels at QB. Florida would have been in serious trouble. Go watch year before this last. Go watch that cocktail party. You’ll see the starting UGA defense. Totally destroy Kyle Trask and Richard Le’count totally dominated Kyle Pitts!!! Florida had Van Jefferson and Freddie Swain and Tyree Cleveland. Along with the same players that this team had. Florida also had Scarlett at running back!!! Those are NFL players!!! That season Florida had more than this year had!!! But UGA STILL beat them!!!
PS. UGA is not going to just beat them this season. We are going to totally embarrass them!!!! BOOK IT!!!!!
Bobby the brain Negan
I am obviously biased, but can you honestly say you think Cincinnati is a better team than Florida, just based upon won-loss records against radically different levels of competition?
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. I can name multiple teams in the top 25 that would have WAY more losses if they played in the SEC. Coastal Carolina would be hanging out with Vandy in the basement.
Ok, so when it’s obvious that a big school is getting hosed, four is suddenly not the magic number. Near 130 fbs teams, a tournament is the only logical conclusion, as with literally every other major sport. How is it even an argument, it is a completely subjective system, which the ncaa bb selection process also is. It also needs to be changed. And how is it possible that a team that just lost its “ccg” is in. The whole point of those games, from an ncaa perspective was to act as an extra elimination game to determine a conferences representative(s). Every single person who argues about 4 or 8 or resume or eye test is an idiot. 10 conference champions, 6 at large bids, done.