Why the First College Football Playoff Rankings Are Accurate

There was controversy in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday with Alabama joining Clemson, LSU and Ohio St. But the rankings were right.

As a Tennessee site, we are supposed to hate the Alabama Crimson Tide no matter what. Every bone in our body should be anti-Alabama, and when something like what happened in the release of the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings happens, with them as a one-loss team jumping eight other undefeated teams for that final spot, we are supposed to use it as evidence that they get preferential treatment from the NCAA.

To be clear, they still do get preferential treatment. But having them ranked No. 4 behind the No. 1 ranked Clemson Tigers, the No. 2 ranked LSU Tigers, and the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes was actually the correct placement.

The committee once again has made it clear, the same way the NCAA Selection Committee does in basketball, that who you play matters.

Alabama’s overall strength of schedule is such that they definitely deserve to be in the Top Four. In fact, the biggest scandal in all of this is that Ohio State is in there with them.

According to ESPN’s metric, the Tide have the No. 3 strength of schedule, while Ohio State’s is ranked No. 71. Florida should probably be up there right with Alabama, and TCU could replace Ohio State as the other undefeated team in the conversation.

We do not need to hear anything about Baylor, who has fattened up on the biggest cupcake schedule possible to this point. In fact, they should be ranked below Memphis, Michigan State, Iowa, and Oklahoma State.

Next: Week 10 Bowl Projections for Vols

Right now, Notre Dame, Florida, and Alabama are the three one-loss teams who definitely belong high up in the rankings, and the only team that really has a case to be over any of them is TCU.

But they should not even be ahead of those three teams.