Here are five takeaways from the first rankings released by the College Football Playoff committee, announced Tuesday night on ESPN. To see the full rankings/CFP bracket, click here.
1. Mustangs on the bubble
SMU (8-1, 5-0 in ACC) cracks the first CFP rankings at No. 13, the first team left out of the top 12. It comes in one spot behind No. 12 Boise State, which is currently leading the Mountain West Conference.
The Mustangs have shined in their first season in the ACC, with SMU and Miami the only ACC teams undefeated in conference play. Miami came in at No. 4 and is projected for a first-round bye.
SMU controls its own destiny in the ACC. That makes things really simple: The Mustangs are guaranteed a spot in the ACC Championship Game if they win their last three regular-season games.
The biggest question for SMU fans over the next anxiety-producing month will be: What happens if an 11-1 SMU team comes up short against an undefeated Miami team in the ACC title game? Would the two-loss Mustangs, whose only other loss was to a highly-ranked BYU team, still have the résumé to earn a playoff berth?
2. Texas’ juicy first-round matchup
The Longhorns (7-1, 3-1 SEC) open the CFP rankings at No. 5, the highest-ranking team of the at-large bids. They slide back to the No. 6 seed, however, because of BYU projecting to take one of the top-four conference champion slots. Remember, it’s the highest-ranking conference champions that get the four first-round byes, not the top-four ranked teams overall.
And boy, would that ever set up a succulent matchup in Austin.
Texas would be facing No. 11. Alabama in what would be the teams’ first-ever matchup as SEC opponents. Texas downed the Crimson Tide in Alabama last season, a 34-24 win in the Longhorns’ final year in the Big 12. This time, Texas would be the home team, as the first-round matchups are hosted by the higher seed.
Texas should take care of business over the next three weeks against mid-tier SEC teams in Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky. And then, in the final week of the Horns’ regular season, another big one.
3. Lone Star Showdown’s impact
As if there wasn’t already enough buildup for the continuation of the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry, it looks like that game could carry with it some major playoff implications.
The Aggies (7-2, 5-1 in SEC) took a hit with their first conference loss to South Carolina on Saturday, but A&M is still in a good spot. Coming in at No. 14 in the first wave of rankings, the second team out of the top 12, A&M still has a shot to make the SEC Championship Game and therefore the CFP.
They’ll need help, but they will at least get some: the Aggies could benefit from Tennessee and Georgia still having to square off, and they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over LSU.
If the Aggies win their remaining games vs. New Mexico, Auburn and the Longhorns, A&M likely ends up taking on the winner of the Georgia-Tennessee matchup in the SEC title game.
4. BYU and the Big 12
Still-undefeated BYU (8-0, 5-0 in Big 12) opens at No. 9 with a first-round bye, currently the only Big 12 team projected to make the playoff. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance for more than one.
Both No. 17 Iowa State and No. 20 Colorado have an outside shot at making the CFP should either win out and upset BYU in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Cougars’ most difficult game remaining on their schedule is at Arizona State.
Iowa State has games against Kansas, Cincinnati and Utah, then closes out its season with a showdown against No. 19 Kansas State in a game that could decide BYU’s opponent in the conference championship.
Deion Sanders’ Colorado team has games against Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. If the Buffs win out, and the Cyclones drop a game (as they did against Tech last Saturday), Sanders and crew will head to Dallas to play for the Big 12 title.
It would take some dominoes falling into place, but an outside possibility exists where BYU falls in the Big 12 Championship but still nabs an at-large bid as a one-loss team, sending two Big 12 teams to the tournament.
5. Local teams that could impact the race
Speaking of Texas Tech (6-3, 4-2 in Big 12), thanks to their upset of Iowa State, the Red Raiders still have an outside shot at a play in the CFP, but it will take a wild run to a Big 12 championship. A huge matchup looms between Tech and Colorado on Saturday, with the winner staying alive in the conference title hunt.
There’s also a big game coming up in Denton on Nov. 9, when North Texas hosts undefeated No. 25 Army. Army sits in the top spot for the American Athletic Conference and is hanging around as a possible Cinderella bid.
Twitter: @coylio33
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