Here we go again.
On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff selection committee released its fourth set of CFP rankings, and with it, we got a look into what the group thinks of teams like Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, and others.
And if you’ve landed on this free website with tons of scarlet and gray content, we’re sure you are most interested in the Buckeye point of you, as are we.
We can kind of glean what the committee thinks of Ohio State based on where it sits in the rankings from week to week, but the group of so-called independent thinkers also put CFP committee chair, Boo Corrigan, out there to add some transparency and accountability to the whole thing by making him available for questions from the media.
And boy does the media have questions on a weekly basis because of some of the head-scratching rankings thrown out there every time we get a look at the newest release.
By now, you likely know that Ohio State is ranked No. 2 again and in prime position to take one of those four College Football Playoff spots, but what exactly does the committee think about the Buckeyes and other teams?
In case you missed it live, hear from Boo Corrigan, chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee, as he chatted with @ESPN's @ReceDavis after the reveal of the fourth Top 25 rankings of 2022.#CFBPlayoff 🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/0VTnpCSw7d
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 23, 2022
Here is everything CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan said about Ohio State and the other ranked teams near the top on Tuesday when he made himself available to the media.
Opening remarks
BRETT DANIELS: I’d like to welcome everybody to the fourth College Football Playoff Selection Committee teleconference for the 2022 season. Joining us again here tonight will be Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, along with Boo Corrigan, the College Football Playoff committee chair.
At this time we’ll go into our Q&A segment.
On LSU being ranked ahead of Clemson despite the Tigers having better results against the common opponent, FSU and a win over a healthy NC State team
BOO CORRIGAN: Let me try to take the first one. Again, we’re looking for growth during the course of the season, and LSU since that loss to Florida State and the way that they’ve played and the way they’ve continued to improve, the win over Alabama, the convincing win over Mississippi are two things that we’ve really looked at.
With regard to Clemson, yeah, it does matter. 6-1 against teams over .500; the two ranked teams are in there. But as we looked at it in the comparable to the Notre Dame loss in South Bend 35-14 and how that game kind of went down as each member of the committee who was watching it and studying it and looking at everything came back with the conclusion that we saw LSU at 5 and Clemson at 8.
On whether TCU at No. 4, was given any thought to be ranked ahead of Ohio State or Michigan
BOO CORRIGAN: There’s conversation. Every week we go through it and make sure that the first thing we do is look at 1 through 4 and make sure that we’re comparing it and looking at the games from the previous week as well as both offense and defense. When you look at the balance of Ohio State, the balance of Michigan, TCU is 8-0 against teams above .500, which is really impressive, and it’s been impressive to the committee, but again, as we look at their ability to come back in games where to a large degree Ohio State and Michigan have not, and as I said last week, that win over Notre Dame by Ohio State is an impressive second wind on top of the Penn State win.
On keeping UCF in the top 25 despite the loss to Navy
BOO CORRIGAN: Yeah, still two really good wins over Tulane and over Cincinnati. The defense has been strong. The 17-14 loss to Navy where Navy controls the ball, it’s a different kind of game that you’re playing in that respect. But they’ve had a really good season. Coach Malzahn has done a really good job, and clearly there’s a lot of respect from the committee for UCF to drop two spots.
On putting Louisville in the top 25 over a more deserving Big Ten team with better results against common opponents
BOO CORRIGAN: Yeah, Louisville has won five of the last six games. They’re 5-3 against teams ranked above .500. They also have that win over UCF. Two of their losses were to Florida State and Clemson, and the comparable in making sure that we’re going through the teams quite frankly that are in that 7-4 area and making sure that we’re doing all we can to figure out which ones deserve in there. But there’s no talk of conference or any of that in what we’re doing. We’re trying to find the best 25 teams.
On the value of Clemson overall as a potential one-loss conference champion
BOO CORRIGAN: You know, protocol, conference championships are part of what we talk about, so from that standpoint, clearly I’m not going to project forward as it relates to that.
But a really good football team. I think it’s trying to figure out what stands out for them. Really good defensive line, really good defensively with what they’ve done 6-1 against teams over .500. Again, I know this can sound repetitive, but in watching them, you’re looking for something that makes them different, makes them stand out. In that respect Coach Swinney has done a great job again this year with his team, but the committee views them as the No. 8 team.
On the separation between USC and LSU right now
BOO CORRIGAN: Well, we talked a lot about it, is what I would say before anything else, and made sure that it wasn’t a single conversation. It came up over and over again to make sure, and there’s reasons for both teams, but the committee at the end of the day saw the wins over Alabama and Mississippi as stronger than the wins over UCLA and Oregon State.
One area we still have questions on is the strength of the defense of USC, and looking at it in its entirety, we believe that LSU deserved to be ranked 5 and SC 6.
On what the committee wants to see from USC's offense and the thought on Clemson's offense
BOO CORRIGAN: Well, the SC defense, that’s projecting into what it is, but again, when you look at that game, and what a great game it was, 48-45, I think we’re looking for a stronger showing by the defense. As a committee, a more dominant win in those situations to continue to move forward.
Will Shipley from Clemson is a dynamic player for them. I think they’ve had maybe a little bit of ups and downs with regards to the quarterback position that we’ve talked about in the room. But again, a really good team that’s had a really good year, and through week 12 that’s our evaluation.
On SEC teams playing cupcakes late in the season vs. other Power Five teams playing better competition
BOO CORRIGAN: You know, we’re really looking at the whole body of work. We’re in week 12. People have played different people throughout the season, some stronger than others, and our goal really is to look at the whole resume at this point and make sure that we’re evaluating the entire resume instead of one single data point that you can get sucked into at times and making sure that we’re making the bigger, broader decision that we have to make and make sure we get that right based on being through week 12.
On how much Hendon Hooker's injury played into Tennessee's ranking
BOO CORRIGAN: Yeah, when you think about the game, it was 49-31 at the time when he went out of the game, and all we can do is evaluate from the start of the game to the end of the game, if you will. While it clearly affected Tennessee at that point, it was 49-31. If I remember correctly, they had a short field as a result of that, and soon after that went up 56-31.
Again, it’s something that we did all acknowledge in the room, but it wasn’t something that drove us to a different conclusion.
BRETT DANIELS: We’d like to thank everyone for their participation.
Closing
BRETT DANIELS: We’d like to thank everyone for their participation.
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