CFP selection committee chair discusses Texas A&M's No. 5 ranking in relation to Ohio State, Florida
Texas A&M remained No. 5 in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff Top 25. The committee kept the whole Top 6 intact.
The Aggies are currently the focus of two rankings debates. Ahead of Tuesday’s rankings reveal, Greg McElroy of ESPN made headlines stating that Florida should move ahead of Texas A&M (and Ohio State) despite the Gators’ October loss to the Aggies at Kyle Field. CFP selection committee chair Gary Barta fielded a question about comparing the two teams’ rankings in the post-reveal media conference call. To the disappointment of McElroy and others, the committee still values head-to-head when it comes to comparable resumes.
Gary, specifically in the case of the Florida-Texas A&M question, you guys have your own proprietary metrics and things you look at. There are some metrics out there that says Florida has had the better performance overall, but the head-to-head went to Texas. How much in this case does a head-to-head victory matter?
GARY BARTA: Well, it matters. It definitely is one of the criteria that we use to evaluate.
Both teams, they’re both with one loss. Texas A&M’s only loss is to Alabama. They beat Florida, as you mentioned. Most recently last week, you watched the Kentucky game that Florida played, and that was a first half that really Kentucky was playing well in. Florida eventually ended up pulling away. Texas A&M, again, continued to play great defense.
When you go through all those criteria, at the end of the day I would say there was a lot of back and forth. Kyle Pitts is back for Florida. He had three touchdowns. He’s a difference-maker.
At the end of the day, Texas A&M, with all those other criteria, Texas A&M did beat Florida. That ends up tipping it over to Texas A&M’s side.
Texas A&M fans will appreciate that Barta was also asked about the Aggies’ case for No. 4 considering Ohio State is just 4-0 while Jimbo Fisher’s squad is 6-1. Barta implied that Texas A&M could have jumped OSU if the Aggies had shown more on offense against LSU:
Gary, on the ESPN show, you mentioned the debate between Ohio State and Texas A&M. My question is, how close was that call for the committee? What does the committee specifically see when it evaluates Texas A&M?
GARY BARTA: We don’t ever go through and take an official vote. What I can tell you is there was discussion in the room about putting both Ohio State and Texas A&M in that fourth slot.
As I mentioned on the show earlier, the firepower and the explosiveness of Justin Fields and Master Teague and Garrett Wilson, all those offensive weapons, the fact that they did beat the No. 12 team the last time they played. It was discussed that they played four and Texas A&M has played seven. That certainly was discussed.
When it comes to Texas A&M, defense is what the committee sees and is most impressed with when it watches Texas A&M. They have a heck of a defense. They beat No. 6 Florida. They only lost to Alabama.
The committee does continue to keep an eye on Texas A&M’s offense. That game against LSU, 20-7. When those two teams are put side-by-side this morning and last night, there just wasn’t enough there to put Texas A&M ahead of Ohio State.
Great discussion, but Ohio State came in at No. 4 and Texas A&M at No. 5.
Texas A&M’s offense has all the motivation it needs to a bounce-back performance against Auburn on Saturday.
I don’t understand the angst against it at all for UF (and fans). A top 6 ranking means that a win against Bama puts them in the CFP. There’s no debate there. For A&M, they need cards to fall into place to get in; a Bama win, ND to win the ACC over Clemson, and possibly the CFPC to demote OSU for not playing in a B1G champ game (though I think that’s a non-issue for them, since it’s on a technicality). If you switch A&M and UF, all you do is keep UF in the same spot–beat Bama or go bowling–but put A&M at a worse spot. I say keep it as is until you have to switch things around.
I will say that the committee is weird for praising A&M’s lackluster win over LSU, yet dogging UF’s (somewhat less) lackluster win against UK. Neither team was fantastic, so why does UF look worse for it?
A&M beat Florida. It’s not the biggest asset to determine where said team is placed but when it comes down to the CFP, of course the head to head is going to matter. If you don’t understand why there is such a huge dispute is because either of these teams are 1-2 spots away from competing on the CFP, which is big for either of these teams because they have not competed for something this big in years.
I didn’t say I don’t understand them wanting to make it to the CFP. I said that, for UF especially, the difference between 5 and 6 doesn’t matter, whereas for A&M, the difference between 5 and 6 can be the difference between getting in. UF has a guaranteed path to the CFP (not saying they’re guaranteed a win, but that they get in guaranteed IF they win). Whether they’re 5 or 6 before that is irrelevant. Focus on that and you’re fine.
I agree with you on everything you said except I don’t think the committee views UF’s performance worse than LSU. I personally think A&M was more disappointing last Saturday but what they’re saying (I think) is we had bad offense but fantastic defense, and whatever they saw in that first half of the UFvsUK game for Florida canceled each other out and put the teams in the same ranking as last week’s.
But as far as ranking #5, and #6, I don’t think anyone should be mad. It’s not like Florida ranking #5, then losing to Bama will keep them in the playoffs picture.
That’s some pretty good answers by the committee rep. It sure leaves the door open for A&M to jump theOSU for that fourth spot if things fall just right.