Are they going to rank the teams by who is the best, or what makes the best tv?
Penn State would have to jump to #1.
Does Notre Dame leap Oregon? Losing to Penn State is a lot better than losing to UNI at home. Oregon also beat Ohio State, Boise State and Illinois. Notre Dame's only game against a currently ranked team was Army. But if Oregon is the 5 seed, they most likely play Penn State again in the semis. Is that what we want to see? Nope, so they will put ND ahead.
How fall does Texas fall? Does losing your conference championship game deserve to fall past schools that didn't make their championship game with the same record? Ohio State is already behind Notre Dame, and they already lost to Oregon, but do they jump Texas?
If Ohio State is ahead of Texas it would be SEC vs SEC and B1G vs B1G in the first round. Not ideal. But if they put Texas ahead, Georgia would get the winner of Indiana @ Texas, which would be the 3rd time UGA and UT would play this season, with UGA already being up 2-0. Even less ideal. They don't want to deal with that backlash and saying their playoffs is flawed, so they'll go with the conference matchups.
#1 Penn State
#2 Georgia
#3 SMU
#4 Boise State
#5 Notre Dame
#6 Oregon
#7 Ohio State
#8 Texas
#9 Tennessee
#10 Indiana
#11 Alabama
#12 ASU/ISU
#1 Penn State vs #9 Tennessee @ #8 Texas winner
then plays
#4 Boise State vs #12 ASU/ISU @ #5 Notre Dame winner
#2 Georgia vs #10 Indiana @ #7 Ohio State winner
then plays
#3 SMU vs #11 Alabama @ #6 Oregon winner
Say the better overall rankings win
Penn State over Texas
Notre Dame over Boise State
Georgia over Ohio State
Oregon over SMU
Penn State over Notre Dame
Georgia over Oregon
Penn State over Georgia
Pretty decent TV
Penn State would have to jump to #1.
Does Notre Dame leap Oregon? Losing to Penn State is a lot better than losing to UNI at home. Oregon also beat Ohio State, Boise State and Illinois. Notre Dame's only game against a currently ranked team was Army. But if Oregon is the 5 seed, they most likely play Penn State again in the semis. Is that what we want to see? Nope, so they will put ND ahead.
How fall does Texas fall? Does losing your conference championship game deserve to fall past schools that didn't make their championship game with the same record? Ohio State is already behind Notre Dame, and they already lost to Oregon, but do they jump Texas?
If Ohio State is ahead of Texas it would be SEC vs SEC and B1G vs B1G in the first round. Not ideal. But if they put Texas ahead, Georgia would get the winner of Indiana @ Texas, which would be the 3rd time UGA and UT would play this season, with UGA already being up 2-0. Even less ideal. They don't want to deal with that backlash and saying their playoffs is flawed, so they'll go with the conference matchups.
#1 Penn State
#2 Georgia
#3 SMU
#4 Boise State
#5 Notre Dame
#6 Oregon
#7 Ohio State
#8 Texas
#9 Tennessee
#10 Indiana
#11 Alabama
#12 ASU/ISU
#1 Penn State vs #9 Tennessee @ #8 Texas winner
then plays
#4 Boise State vs #12 ASU/ISU @ #5 Notre Dame winner
#2 Georgia vs #10 Indiana @ #7 Ohio State winner
then plays
#3 SMU vs #11 Alabama @ #6 Oregon winner
Say the better overall rankings win
Penn State over Texas
Notre Dame over Boise State
Georgia over Ohio State
Oregon over SMU
Penn State over Notre Dame
Georgia over Oregon
Penn State over Georgia
Pretty decent TV
