There’s not much to quibble with about the top 10, but Coastal Carolina deserves to be in the mix for a New Year’s Six bowl.
It took a little while thanks to a tardy college basketball game, but we have rankings that probably didn’t require too much deliberation.
The Good
The top 10 stayed pretty static, and that’s fine.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and it ain’t. Besides Oregon sliding from No. 6 to No. 12 after losing their second game to Washington, the top 10 is basically unchanged. (Utah moves to the No. 10 spot after Ole Miss and UCLA also lost.)
The battle lines are pretty clearly drawn for a straightforward final stretch that could yield:
- Georgia undefeated
- Big Ten champ undefeated
- TCU undefeated
Committee chair Boo Corrigan was asked directly about the Frogs, who stuck at No. 4 after a defensive 17–10 win over Texas where the Longhorns’ only score was a fumble returned for a touchdown.
“You’re looking for improvement during the course of the year and for their defense to give up three points,” Corrigan said on the ESPN rankings reveal show. “As you look at the whole package, they continue to improve. They’ve earned the opportunity to be in the top four.”
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Those are the easy solutions. One would think if those three situations stay chalky, each team would be in. Then we have a potential decision.
- USC as a one-loss Pac-12 champ would mean wins over UCLA, Notre Dame and either Oregon or Utah in the conference championship game. USC doesn’t have many quality wins … yet.
- One-loss ACC champion. North Carolina creeps up to No. 13 while Clemson sits at No. 9. We’ll have to wait until they get together in Charlotte to se how that matchup would affect the standings. UNC also has an opportunity to notch another top-25 win over NC State on rivalry weekend.
All of this is okay. There isn’t much to find egregious with the top of the rankings. But as we know, college football rarely gives us something straightforward.
Stephen Spillman/AP
The Bad
Still no respect on Coastal Carolina’s name.
Yes, Grayson McCall is injured for the rest of the regular season, and it remains unclear if the Chanticleers will get a chance to play Virginia on Saturday with the status of the game in flux due to the tragic deaths of three UVa players on Sunday night. But Coastal is still not ranked despite being 9–1 and beating one of the two teams to have beat No. 21 Tulane (Southern Miss).
Head coach Jamey Chadwell asked for some more respect and the committee didn’t exactly give it to him.
The Ugly
Why exactly is NC State ranked?
They were kept at arm’s length by Clemson, lost to Syracuse with an anemic offense (albeit with a backup quarterback) and then lost to a Boston College team that has not been good by one point. Considering Coastal Carolina isn’t in, it’s mind boggling NC State is.
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