Alabama Tops First College Football Playoff Rankings of a Chaotic Season

Still, the A.C.C., which includes Notre Dame this year, and the SEC are in far better position than the Big 12 or Pac-12, which did not place a team higher than No. 11.

Oklahoma, at No. 11, stands above its Big 12 colleagues, while No. 15 Oregon has the highest rank of any Pac-12 program. Plenty can change, but the early rankings suggest that two of the sport’s top leagues are at risk of missing college football’s grandest stage this season.

Seventh-ranked Cincinnati, 8-0 and a member of the American Athletic Conference, is the bright spot for fans hoping to see someone break the grip of the Power 5 leagues on the playoff. Brigham Young, which is 9-0 and an independent in football, came in at No. 14, with its schedule seen as particularly weak among the sport’s top teams.

Even in 2020, little has changed about the playoff selection process.

College football has a fractured schedule, varied approaches to the pandemic by top leagues and uncertainty over whether the season will last long enough to hold the playoffs safely. But the Playoff is still aiming for something like a business-as-usual approach.

The selection committee is still planning to meet weekly at a hotel near Dallas, as usual, despite the surging tally of virus cases around the United States and recommendations from health officials to avoid most travel. The committee’s members are being tested for the virus.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/sports/ncaafootball/college-football-playoff-rankings.html