First CFP Rankings Breakdown: Ohio State Tops Poll, Miami Snubbed by Committee

The College Football Playoff Committee released its first rankings of the season, and as a whole, they did a pretty solid job, especially towards the top of the poll. The committee did a consistent job year over year by ensuring that head-to-head matchups mattered when comparing two teams.

The only team that got the short end of the stick in that regard is Miami. They have the same number of losses as Notre Dame, yet they are ranked eight spots below them. I know Miami hasn't looked good recently, but losses to Louisville and SMU aren't that bad. The committee is relying on the eye test for this ranking, but if that were truly the case, why wasn’t Notre Dame punished for struggling to get past 1-8 Boston College? The ACC is thoroughly disrespected in these rankings thus far.

On the other hand, the Big 12 has to be ecstatic with the results of these rankings. Three teams within the top 13, and they could easily wind up with two or even all three of these teams in the playoffs. Utah is the biggest winner from these rankings, somehow managing to slide in at 13th. They have solid wins against Cincinnati and an Arizona State team without Sam Leavitt, but they have a blowout loss at home to Texas Tech and a loss to BYU that was not nearly as close as the score implied. They feel like a team much more on the level of Washington than a fringe playoff contender.

The biggest story of the night came at the top of the rankings. Ohio State becomes the first No. 1 seed in the rankings, which was somewhat controversial to the ESPN analysts presenting the rankings. Who did they think deserved the number one spot? Hint, it’s the undefeated team that’s in the conference they have the rights to. That’s right, they thought that Texas A&M had the most deserving resume of the three leading undefeated teams.

I simply don’t get how that’s the case. If you want to use the eye test, Ohio State has been the most dominant. Still, even without the eye test, they have more wins over teams the committee has ranked. Then, if you compare their best wins — Ohio State over Texas and Texas A&M over Notre Dame — it’s pretty comparable. Then, Ohio State has the solid road win over Washington, which is far better than anything else on the Aggies' resume.

If anyone could have a real gripe with the rankings, it could be Indiana. They might honestly have the two best wins out of any of the undefeated teams.

The best thing about these rankings is that they usually find a way of working themselves out. But what would be the fun in college football if we could complain about the rankings?