Week 4: Playoff Rankings

The Committee Results – The biggest move for this week’s committee rankings was not how far Oregon dropped after their loss to Arizona State. It was Ohio State moving back to the top of the poll. Imagine the conversion on eSECpn television and radio this week. Fear not, there are still 3 SEC teams in the top five teams. LSU beat Arkansas 56-20 to move them to 11-0, and clinch the SEC West, where they will face Georgia. They will play Texas A&M this week 

Ohio State was challenged for a quarter against Penn State due to some fumbles, but still were able to win 28-17 against 8th ranked Penn State. The loss did not hurt the Lions too much as they dropped below Minnesota (as they should have) but remains in the top ten. Florida had been the highest ranked 2 loss team before the PSU ranking. 

Clemson had a bye week, and sits at 11-0, and will face their in state rival South Carolina, who defeated Georgia earlier in the year. The Tigers locked their spot for the ACC Championship game, and will find out who they play between the winner of the Virginia vs Virginia Tech game. 

Georgia beat Texas A&M 19-13 in a defensive victory, and Alabama won 66-3 with Mac Jones in at quarterback against Western Carolina. 

The biggest Shake up was Oregon, who lost on the road to Arizona State for their second loss of the season. Meanwhile, Utah took care of business and beat Arizona 35-7, and will be the new favorite for the PAC-12 to make the playoff.

With rivalry week this week, and Championship this week, the committee will have to answer some touch questions if there are several one loss conference champions. 

How We Voted

Buckeye50 Playoff Poll – The separation between LSU and Ohio State was very small last week for the Buckeye 50 staff and this week the Buckeyes passed the Tigers after the victory over Penn State. This moved Joe Burrow and the boys to the #2 spot.  Clemson remained at #3 which is where they will likely stay unless there is an upset this coming week. Since Oregon lost to Arizona State, they dropped out of the top six and playoff consideration. This made room for Georgia in the Buckeye50 4th spot, which is also where they ended up in the Playoff Committee’s eyes.

Alabama remains at #5 but that is beginning to look like their ceiling. The Big 12 champ and the Pac-12 champ will both likely pass the Tide in the end.

What does this mean?  If the Buckeyes win out, it is likely they will hold on to the top spot. They would end up with two more wins over top 25 opponents.  The best LSU can do is add one more win after they defeat Georgia. And staying #1 would allow the Buckeyes to avoid Clemson in the first round and get to select the location of their first round playoff game. 

	1	2	3	4	5	6
Andy	LSU	Ohio State	Clemson	Georgia	Utah	Oklahoma
Cory	LSU	Ohio State	Clemson	Georgia	Utah	Oklahoma
Gregg	Ohio State	LSU	Clemson	Utah	Georgia	Oklahoma
Jason	Ohio State	LSU	Clemson	Georgia	Utah	Alabama
John	LSU	Ohio State	Clemson	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Georgia
Josh	Ohio State	LSU	Clemson	Utah	Oklahoma	Alabama
Mark	LSU	Ohio State	Clemson	Georgia	Alabama	Baylor
Pat	Ohio State	LSU	Utah	Clemson	Oklahoma	Georgia
Steven	Ohio State	LSU	Clemson	Alabama	Oklahoma	Utah
Vaughn	Ohio State	LSU	Clemson	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Utah

Here is how we voted, lets us know how you predict the rankings will go!  Who is your top 4?