The good news for Ole Miss fans is that its current situation hasn’t changed: win the Golden Egg again and the Rebels will be in the College Football Playoff.
The bad news is that Ole Miss dropped one spot in the latest CFP rankings released Tuesday night after an hour-long delay because of the Maui Invitational game between USC and Seton Hall game. Luckily, it was at least close and interesting.
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The committee moved Oregon up to No. 6 in its latest rankings after beating then-No. 15 USC at home on Saturday. The top five spots in the rankings didn’t change.
Based on the latest rankings, Ole Miss would get to host a playoff game…against Alabama.
Taylor’s Take
The one spot drop likely has nothing to do with the ongoing drama around Lane Kiffin and his coaching future. It still doesn’t make a lot of sense if you consider the Rebels’ best win is a road win against the committee’s No. 8 ranked team (Oklahoma).
And it reinforces my belief the SEC needs to reconsider its decision to move to a nine-game schedule.
Oregon’s lone loss was to No. 2 Indiana, 30-20. Ole Miss lost its only game to No. 4 Georgia, 43-35.
The Rebels’ best wins were against then-No. 4 LSU (which has depreciated in value) and against No. 8 Oklahoma (which has increased in value).
The Duck’s best wins were on the road at Penn State (when the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 3) and on the road against then-No. 20 Iowa.
Those facts should put Ole Miss ahead of Oregon, but there’s a lot of discussion about “eye test” and the committee is telling the Rebels “you haven’t looked good enough in your wins.”
And that’s going to be a problem if it continues.
College Football Playoff Rankings
- Ohio State 11-0
- Indiana 11-0
- Texas A&M 11-0
- Georgia 10-1
- Texas Tech 10-1
- Oregon 10-1
- Ole Miss 10-1
- Oklahoma 9-2
- Notre Dame 9-2
- Alabama 9-2
- BYU 10-1
- Miami (FL) 9-2
- Utah 9-2
- Vanderbilt 9-2
- Michigan 9-2
- Texas 8-3
- USC 8-3
- Virginia 9-2
- Tennessee 8-3
- Arizona State 8-3
- SMU 8-3
- Pittsburgh 8-3
- Georgia Tech 9-2
- Tulane 9-2
- Arizona 8-3
