Texas Football: CFP committee continues to disrespect UT’s resume

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released on ESPN on Nov. 28, with Texas football still remaining at No. 7 this week. Despite demolishing the Texas Tech Red Raiders by a 50-point margin and another team losing in the top five last week, Texas couldn’t move up in the rankings during this conference championship week.

Texas and the No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide were the only two one-loss teams in the top 10 that didn’t move up in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings release. And while I think a case could be made that Alabama didn’t deserve to move up in the rankings this week based on its showing in a miracle last-second win over the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 25, the Tide’s resume is still stronger than some of the teams above it (based on strength of schedule).

The two teams ranked ahead of Texas and Alabama in this week’s CFP rankings are the No. 5 Oregon Ducks and No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes. Oregon did have an impressive double-digit win over the No. 16 Oregon State Beavers in its rivalry game in Eugene last week. But that is the only win for the Ducks over a team currently ranked in the CFP top 25.

Ohio State was close to coming back against the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines in “The Game” in Ann Arbor last weekend. Nonetheless, head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes fell short of the rival Wolverines in its rivalry game for the third straight year. And that loss to Michigan came without Wolverines’ head coach Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines.

Texas football and Alabama deserve to be higher in the CFP rankings than Oregon and Ohio State

For a few reasons, the Longhorns and Tide are deserving of being ahead of Ohio State and Oregon in the CFP rankings this week.

I also want to mention the criteria mentioned on the CFP’s website that are supposedly “considered” when teams are “comparable” in the rankings.

• Championships won
• Strength of schedule
• Head‐to‐head competition (if it occurred)
• Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory)

As far as Ohio State is concerned, the Buckeyes aren’t playing in the Big Ten Championship Game this weekend. Given that Alabama and Texas are both one win away from being one-loss Power Five conference champions this weekend, each team is more relevant in the CFP rankings at this point in the season.

Since Oregon is playing for a conference championship this weekend, in the PAC-12 title game against the No. 3 Washington Huskies, the same argument that we just made against Ohio State in the CFP rankings this week doesn’t apply to them. But Oregon doesn’t have the same strength of schedule or resume of wins against ranked opponents that Texas and Alabama do.

According to ESPN, Texas and Alabama both have much higher strengths of schedule than Oregon.

• Texas: 13th
• Alabama: 31st
• Oregon: 62nd

Texas and Alabama also have better strengths of record than Oregon. Granted, this is a narrower margin with the strength of record argument for Texas and Alabama above Oregon than the strength of schedule.

• Texas: 6th
• Alabama: 7th
• Oregon: 9th

David Hale of ESPN also pointed out following this week’s release of the CFP rankings that Texas and Alabama have more top-35 wins (based on FPI), wins vs. bowl teams, and wins vs. Power Five opponents with winning records.

As far as Texas is concerned, it is a valid argument to bring up the win over Texas Tech on Black Friday compared to Oregon’s win against the Red Raiders in non-conference play this season. The committee mentions it does take common opponents into account (“without incenting margin of victory”).

Even without taking into account margin of victory, it’s crazy to think that Texas’ 50-point manhandling of Texas Tech last week compared to Oregon’s one-score win over Tech in Lubbock isn’t worth something to the selection committee.

When comparing some of the top criteria mentioned on the committee’s website regarding what it uses to compare top teams in the ranking process for the College Football Playoff, there are too many things that don’t line up. Texas has the edge over Oregon regarding two of the three valid criteria at the moment (since we haven’t played conference championship games yet). Alabama also has the edge in one of the three.

Meanwhile, Oregon doesn’t have an edge over Alabama or Texas in any of the criteria the committee says it uses to rank these teams.

Even if Texas takes care of business in the Big 12 Championship Game this weekend against the No. 18 Oklahoma State Cowboys, the selection committee is saying the Longhorns might be left on the outside looking in for the Playoff.

Unless the selection committee members change their minds soon, or Louisville beats Florida State to open up another spot in the top four for the Playoff this weekend, Oregon could be picked over Texas without having the better resume or overall strength of schedule.