MSU No. 7, Clemson No. 1 in first CFP rankings
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said he’d be watching game film on Tuesday night when the first College Football Playoff rankings were released.
What he missed didn’t come as a huge surprise as the Spartans came in at No. 7, one spot lower than their ranking of No. 6 in both the Associated Press and coaches’ poll.
The top four teams are: 1. Clemson, 2. LSU, 3. Ohio State 4. Alabama. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify for the College Football Playoff.
Michigan was ranked No. 17 while unbeaten Iowa was No. 9 and Northwestern checked in at No. 21.
Earlier in the day, Dantonio said he wasn’t spending a whole lot of time worrying about his team’s standing, instead focusing on the final four games of the regular season, beginning with a trip to Nebraska on Saturday.
“The end game is what’s important, what happens four-and-a-half weeks from now,” Dantonio said. "That’s the bottom line.”
Michigan State (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) is one of 11 unbeaten teams in the rankings and has wins over Oregon and on the road against Michigan, but “eye test” appears to be hurting the Spartans. Only the win over Indiana was by a wide margin.
It also hasn’t helped the Oregon has faltered since the teams met in what was a top-10 matchup in the second week of the season, and apparently the committee is putting an asterisk next to the Michigan victory, which ended with Michigan State scoring the winning touchdown on a botched punt on the final play.
Michigan State’s players were aware the rankings were coming but were taking their head coach’s lead in how much stock they put in them.
“I’m just not interested because I know if we take care of business and win all of our games there’s no way they can keep us out of it, in my mind,” junior linebacker Riley Bullough said. “That’s how we feel so I’m not really interested in it.”
There’s plenty of reason not to fret over the first rankings, and some of the analysts on ESPN alluded to that fact. That’s because so many big games between teams near the top of the rankings will take place over the next few weeks.
LSU and Alabama face off on Saturday while Michigan State and Ohio State play Nov. 21 in Columbus and the Buckeyes close the season at Michigan. Clemson still has a meeting with Florida State while the Big 12 is full of big matchups, specifically between Baylor and TCU. And Notre Dame, which is ranked fifth, travels to Pittsburgh this week and closes the season at No. 11 Stanford.
For Michigan State, the idea of winning out and getting in is sound logic. It would mean the Spartans would have wins over Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State and, potentially, Iowa in the Big Ten championship game. That sort of resume would be quite attractive by the time the field is announced.
“We want to be in the College Football Playoffs and if it started now we wouldn’t be in, so that is our primary goal,” senior defensive end Shilique Calhoun said. “If we continue to win and do what we’re supposed to do then everything will fall into place. It’s not really about where they rank us right now because we still need to finish out the season. That’s the biggest thing.”
While Iowa would have a tougher sell if it ran the table considering it avoided playing Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan, the path is even tougher for the Wolverines (6-2, 3-1). They still have their season-finale against Ohio State, but with two losses – even to highly-ranked teams like Michigan State (7) and Utah (12) – it would be difficult to crack the top four.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS
1. Clemson, 8-0
2. LSU, 7-0
3. Ohio State, 8-0
4. Alabama, 7-1
5. Notre Dame, 7-1
6. Baylor, 7-0
7. Michigan State, 8-0
8. TCU, 8-0
9. Iowa, 8-0
10. Florida, 7-1
11. Stanford, 7-1
12. Utah, 7-1
13. Memphis, 8-0
14. Oklahoma State, 8-0
15. Oklahoma, 7-1
16. Florida State, 7-1
17. Michigan, 6-2
18. Mississippi, 7-2
19. Texas A&M, 6-2
20. Mississippi State, 6-2
21. Northwestern, 6-2
22. Temple, 7-1
23. UCLA, 6-2
24. Toledo, 7-0
25. Houston, 8-0
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will issue weekly rankings each Tuesday, with the final rankings being announced Sunday, Dec. 6. The playoff semifinals will match the No. 1 seed vs. the No. 4 seed, and No. 2 will face No. 3. The semifinals will be hosted at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 2016. The championship game will be on Jan. 11, 2016 at Glendale, Ariz.