The CFP committee gained a greenlight Saturday to load the playoff with Big Ten, SEC teams.
If BYU wins Big 12 and Miami wins ACC, those conferences could be left with one bid apiece.
Carson Beck’s play remains a concern for Georgia.
The Big Ten and SEC became Saturday’s big winners.
Losses by Clemson and Pittsburgh in the ACC and Iowa State and Kansas State in the Big 12 increased the chance that those two leagues will be reduced to one playoff bid apiece and widened the path for the ‘Super Two’ conferences to claim four playoff bids apiece.
The College Football Playoff committee will open a window into their thinking when the first playoff rankings are released Tuesday night.
How the committee operates is shrouded in mystery. Here’s how the committee describes its rankings process on the CFP’s website: The selection committee chooses the 12 teams for the playoff based on strength of schedule, head-to-head results against common opponents, championships won and other factors.
Well, that single sentence clears it up, doesn’t it?
The committee’s lack of transparency is sure to heighten the controversy over its playoff picks. The public is not even privy to the strength of schedule metric, which SportSource Analytics provides to the committee.
Basically, the committee can make up whatever rationale it wants to justify its playoff field.
‘Record matters,’ CFP executive director Rich Clark said Wednesday, ‘but we’re not trying to pick the most deserving teams. We’re trying to pick the best teams. This committee has got to look at (a team’s) entire body of work.’
Here’s my prediction of what the top 12 of the rankings could look like come Tuesday night:
12. Boise State (7-1): A close loss to Oregon counts as a quality line on the Broncos’ résumé. They’re positioned for the Group of Five’s playoff bid, but they must win the Mountain West to snag it.
Here’s what else caught my eye in this view from the “Topp Rope”:
What’s wrong with Georgia’s Carson Beck?
I didn’t expect quarterback Carson Beck to be a factor holding Georgia back, but Beck has gone from team strength to liability at warp speed.
He threw three interceptions in Georgia’s sloppy 34-20 victory over Florida, giving him 11 interceptions in his past five games. He repeatedly forced passes into coverage. On his second interception, he needlessly threw a pass into triple coverage on first down.
Beck doesn’t look like the same quarterback without Brock Bowers serving as a security blanket.
Are we sure Beck gives Georgia a better shot than blue-chip backup Gunner Stockton? This wouldn’t be the first time Kirby Smart parked his best quarterback on the bench.
It took multiple JT Daniels injuries for Smart to elevate Stetson Bennett IV to the starting spot in 2021. Bennett went on to lead Georgia to back-to-back national championships, but what would have happened if Daniels didn’t get hurt?
Knowing Smart’s history – in 2018, he kept rolling with Jake Fromm over Justin Fields – he’ll probably stick with Beck. Without seeing more of Stockton, it’s hard to know whether that’s the right call, but it’s also tough to envision Georgia winning a national championship with Beck playing like he has lately.
“I don’t think anything’s wrong with him,” Smart said before the Florida game.
And I think Smart is the only one who feels that way.
Three and out
1. Hugh Freeze’s record dropped to 9-13 in two seasons at Auburn after the Tigers’ 17-7 loss to Vanderbilt, Auburn’s first-ever home loss to the Commodores. Bryan Harsin was 9-12 when Auburn fired him in Year 2.
Freeze’s recruiting class, ranked No. 5 in the 247Sports Composite, is the only argument for giving him a third season. That argument might be strong enough to retain Freeze, but he’d enter 2025 on a piping-hot seat, much like Billy Napier did at Florida this year.
2. Quarterback DJ Lagway’s injury gave Florida an excuse for blowing a lead in a 34-20 loss to Georgia, but let’s be honest, the Gators would have found a way to lose anyway. Finding ways to lose winnable games remains their speciality under Billy Napier. I’m now going to list the reasons why Florida should bring Napier back for a fourth season: … .
Actually, I can’t think of any.
3. My latest ‘Topp Rope’ playoff projection: Georgia (SEC), Oregon (Big Ten), Miami (ACC), BYU (Big 12), Boise State (Group of Five), plus at-large selections Tennessee, Texas, LSU, Ohio State, Indiana, Penn State, Notre Dame. Next up: SMU, Alabama, Iowa State, Texas A&M, Army.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. The ‘Topp Rope’ is his football column published throughout the USA TODAY Network. Subscribe to read all of his columns.
(This story was updated to change a video).
