Proving they care more about wins than losses, WVU only dropped 4 spots in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings

Through two and a half years worth of Playoff Rankings, the Playoff Committee has made one thing clear: Wins mean more than losses. Specifically wins over Top 25 teams allow you to lose bad games you shouldn’t.

West Virginia had a chance to make its case for the Playoff Committee on Saturday and fumbled its way to a 28-point defeat. That didn’t matter much to the committee as they only dropped WVU four spots to number 18.

The committee’s ranking now matches where WVU sits in the AP & Coaches Poll. Previously, WVU was a top 10 team in the eyes of the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll, but fell to 19/17 following Saturday night’s loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma continues to be the highest ranked Big 12 team, moving up one spot in the latest rankings to number 8. Oklahoma has one final showdown with #10 Oklahoma State, the only other ranked Big 12 team. The winner of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game will claim the Big 12 title. The winner figures to jump into the top 5 ahead of non conference winners but could still be left out of the Final Four entirely.

If a Big 12 team is able to jump into the Final Four, then the loser of Bedlam would be slated for the Sugar Bowl. The Cotton Bowl, which at one time had been a possible destination for West Virginia if it and Oklahoma State had won out, would appear to be out of the picture now that West Virginia would need to climb somewhere near the Top 8 to be available for an at-large selection.

What else would you expect from a rivalry so steeped in tradition?

It’s Rivalry Week in college football, and that means bulletin board material and trash talk all across the country. That apparently includes the Battle Line Rivalry which has produced some big trash talk sponsored by Shelter Insurance. Missouri Linebacker Eric Beisel says the Razorbacks coming to Columbia to play would be a mistake and purposefully mispronounced Arkansas several times. In the third year of playing each other as conference foes, at least one player has really bought into the rivalry.

Missouri did get a big blow on offense when starting Running Back Damarea Crockett was suspended for the game after being arrested for marijuana possession. Crockett is a Little Rock native and no doubt had this game circled on his calendar after going to Mizzou after not getting an offer from the Hogs. The freshman has been a big part of their offense that, despite their record, has been very successful.

After last week’s performance that put him back in the lead for SEC rushing yards, Rawleigh Williams III has been racking up the weekly awards. He was SEC Offensive Player of the Week, and was recognized by ESPN as well. In addition to that, Dan Skipper was also SEC co-offensive lineman of the week.

Unless you’ve been under a rock the past few days, you know things between Texas and Charlie Strong have gotten messy. The Arkansas native will probably be out of Austin soon and the whole situation has been very public. Bret Bielema, who has been known to send letters of support, sent one to Strong supporting how he’s handling the situation. Bielema said he felt the need to do that to those in tough situations.

Tonight Arkansas basketball gets their first road test of the season, heading up to play Minnesota. Mike Anderson said this game was very purposefully put in this spot to gauge where the team is and where they need to go moving forward. Arkansas had some ups and downs so far, getting a win on the road against a major conference opponent is always a big step.

Can the Bears finish the season winning as underdogs?

The California Golden Bears have been underdogs much of the season. It won’t change in their regular season finale against the UCLA Bruins. Cal is currently being listed as 3 to 3.5 point point underdogs to UCLA. It’ll be the fifth game in a row where Cal is not favored to win.

Cal will finish this season being favored in three games (Oregon, Oregon State, Hawaii) and underdogs in pretty much every other contest (Utah depended on the sportsbook, but we were generally underdogs).

Very interestingly, Cal has been very close to the line multiple times. Cal was about two score underdogs to Stanford; they lost by two touchdowns. Cal was about three score underdogs to USC; they lost by three score. Cal was around three point favorites against Oregon and won by three points. Cal was near 20+ point favorites to Hawaii, they won by 20. Cal was touchdown underdogs to San Diego State, and lost by five. Vegas has gotten pretty good at pegging the Bears for most of the year, although Cal has failed to cover the spread the past four weeks.

Cal fans, your thoughts on the line?

The Gators jumped eight spots for their road win.

After downing LSU in Death Valley, Florida has at least a faint heartbeat in the College Football Playoff chase.

The Gators rose to No. 15 in Tuesday’s rankings, the second-to-last set before the final Playoff rankings are released in December.

Florida was been No. 11, unranked, and No. 23 in the three sets of rankings released thus far in 2016. The Gators’ 31-10 loss to Arkansas dropped them out of the rankings, but a victory over South Carolina and significant attrition in front of them allowed them to hop back in prior to their meeting with the Tigers.

If Florida is going to make a charge at the Playoff, it will do so by knocking off two teams ranked in front of it. This Saturday brings a chance to take at least the next rung on the rankings by merely bumping off the team that occupies it, No. 14 Florida State. Next Saturday, in Atlanta, the Gators will see No. 1 Alabama — a team that might not lose that top spot even if it falls to Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Of course, Florida held the No. 12 spot in last year’s College Football Playoff rankings for the week of Thanksgiving — and subsequently lost its next three games by at least two touchdowns each.

The Buffaloes inched another step closer to the top four.

Another victory, another jump in the College Football Playoff Rankings for the Colorado Buffaloes. After defeating the Washington State Cougars 38-24 the Buffaloes have moved up one spot to No. 9 in the playoff rankings. This Saturday they will take on the No. 22 Utah Utes in Boulder with a win sending them to the Pac-12 Championship game where they would either play the No. 5 Washington Huskies or the Cougars again.

With two weeks remaining in the college football season the Buffaloes can continue their Rise if they keep on winning. There are at least two guaranteed losses coming in the teams ranked above them with a lot more likely.

College Football Playoff Rankings

RK	TEAM	REC	TREND
1	Alabama	11-0	—
2	Ohio State	10-1	—
3	Michigan	10-1	—
4	Clemson	10-1	—
5	Washington	10-1	1
6	Wisconsin	9-2	1
7	Penn State	9-2	1
8	Oklahoma	9-2	1
9	Colorado	9-2	1
10	Oklahoma State	9-2	1
11	Louisville	9-2	6
12	USC	8-3	1
13	Auburn	8-3	2
14	Florida State	8-3	3
15	Florida	8-2	8
16	Nebraska	9-2	2
17	Tennessee	8-3	2
18	West Virginia	8-2	4
19	Boise State	10-1	1
20	Houston	9-2	NR
21	Western Michigan	11-0	—
22	Utah	8-3	10
23	Washington State	8-3	1
24	Stanford	8-3	—
25	Navy	8-2	NR

Tonight’s College Football Playoff rankings broke the right way for Tennessee to make it to the Sugar Bowl:

• 8-3 Tennessee moved up two spots to #17 in the rankings
• 8-3 Auburn is the highest non-playoff SEC team at #13. They’ve got Alabama next.
• 9-2 Florida is #15. They’ve got Florida State, then Bama.
• 8-3 Texas A&M and 7-4 LSU are both unranked. Some speculated the Aggies, owners of a head-to-head win over the Vols, might pass the Vols if they beat LSU on Thursday. But with both A&M and LSU unranked, it seems highly unlikely the committee would jump the Aggies from outside the poll to above Tennessee after a Vol victory.

Removing A&M and LSU from the equation leaves the following path:

• Tennessee (-7.5) beats Vanderbilt
• Alabama (-17) beats Auburn
• Florida State (-7.5) beats Florida
• Alabama beats Florida (projected -21) in the SEC Championship Game

The Vols were burned by LSU as a -14.5 favorite last week, so anything can happen. But it wouldn’t take any upsets for Tennessee to earn a trip to the New Year’s Six.

Also of note: Oklahoma staying behind Wisconsin and Penn State even after throttling West Virginia suggests the Sooners will need significant upsets in front of them to make the playoffs even if they beat Oklahoma State, making it more likely the winner of that game would be Tennessee’s opponent in the Sugar Bowl.

Following their 36-10 loss to Houston, the Louisville football team was dropped six spots from No. 5 to No. 11 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings. The Cards also sit at No. 11 in both the coaches and AP polls.

Alabama once again topped the rankings, followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan (convenient) and No. 4 Clemson. Washington and Wisconsin are the first two teams on the outside looking in,

Also of note for Louisville is the fact that Florida State now sits at No. 14. The Seminoles would need to jump over the Cardinals in order to potentially earn a bid to the Orange Bowl. Even if FSU topples No. 15 Florida and U of L struggles with Kentucky, it would be an awfully hard sell for the committee to put a three-loss team ahead of a two-loss team that beat it head-to-head by 43 points.

Here are your CFP rankings heading into the final week of the regular season:

1. Alabama (11-0)

2. Ohio State (10-1)

3. Michigan (10-1)

4. Clemson (10-1)

5. Washington (10-1)

6. Wisconsin (9-2)

7. Penn State (9-2)

8. Oklahoma (9-2)

9. Colorado (9-2)

10. Oklahoma State (9-2)

11. Louisville (9-2)

12. Southern California (8-3)

13. Auburn (8-3)

14. Florida State (8-3)

15. Florida (8-2)

16. Nebraska (9-2)

17. Tennessee (8-3)

18, West Virginia (8-2)

19. Boise State (10-1)

20. Houston (9-2)

21. Western Michigan (11-0)

22. Utah (8-3)

23. Washington State (8-3)

24. Stanford (8-3)

25. Navy (8-2)

This weekend’s edition of The Game can be considered the first game of the College Football Playoff.

The latest College Football Playoff rankings are out and it is more of the same that we are used to seeing with the top four staying the same.

Folks should essentially reed Ohio State and Michigan as 2a and 2b seeing as this weekend’s showdown is essentially a playoff to the CFP.

Here are the full rankings.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Clemson
5. Washington
6. Wisconsin
7. Penn State
8. Oklahoma
9. Colorado
10. Oklahoma State
11. Louisville
12. USC
13. Auburn
14. Florida State
15. Florida
16. Nebraska
17. Tennessee
18. West Virginia
19. Boise State
20. Houston
21. Western Michigan
22. Utah
23. Washington State
24. Stanford
25. Navy

“For his entire three years here, he’s had one goal in mind: What’s best for these young men.”

World-famous actor, UT alum and Texas Longhorns superfan Matthew McConaughey took time to share his opinion on Charlie Strong and the upcoming TCU Horned Frogs game.

Campus Insiders has the clip:

“For his entire three years here, he’s had one goal in mind: What’s best for these young men,” McConaughey says. “That’s going to be the legacy of Charlie Strong. And that’s a great thing and that’s why we’re going to go out and whoop TCU’s ass on Friday.”

Well said.

The Badgers keep on climbing.

Wisconsin moved up to No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings unveiled by the selection committee on Tuesday evening.

The Badgers (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) jumped one spot after their 49-20 win at Purdue on Saturday, with Louisville losing to Houston.

Four Big Ten teams are in the top 10 of the rankings, with No. 2 Ohio State (10-1, 9-1), No. 3 Michigan (10-1, 9-1) and No. 7 Penn State (9-2, 7-1) joining Wisconsin.

Wisconsin plays Minnesota (8-3, 5-3) on Saturday for a Big Ten West division title and Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

Below are the full rankings, as captured from ESPN’s broadcast: