by Sean Szymczak
On to the post-season!
The debate for the 4th spot stole all the headlines today and for good reason. It was the ultimate debate of philosophies when evaluating teams to compete for a national championship.
There was also an underrated race of who would grab the last NY6 bids. SMU or Liberty? Oklahoma or Ole Miss?
We give one final jab at ranking the top 25 teams in college football while trying to balance the ‘best’ vs ‘most deserving’ debate.
The Floor Slap’s Post-Season Top 25
- Michigan (13-0)
- Easy #1. There isn’t even an argument against them.
- Washington (13-0)
- I hope the entire country continues to doubt the Huskies. Their defense is now a complete unit and their evolved run game has propelled their offense to become the best in the entire country. They are legit.
- Texas (12-1)
- The Longhorns are playing their best football of the season right now. Their matchup against Washington should be epic.
- Alabama (12-1)
- I agree with the committee here. The reason we formed a committee to replace computers was to make decisions like this. Everyone complained about the BCS – a system that would’ve been blind to Travis Hunter’s injury and put them at #2 or #3. No one in the country would argue that the FSU team we’ve seen for the past three games without Hunter is better than Alabama. With the Tide picking the best win in the country and ending the season with 11 straight wins, I think the choice is clear.
- Florida State (13-0)
- I was actually on the Seminoles’ side until that ACC Championship – it was simple unwatchable. Whether it’s fair or not, the job of the committee is not simply to put the four “most deserving” teams into the playoff. If it was, we’d have kept the BCS and let records speak for themselves. Florida State and Alabama both played on Saturday. It was clear to anyone with sight which team was better.
- Georgia (12-1)
- Ohio State (11-1)
- Oregon (11-2)
- Penn State (10-2)
- Missouri (10-2)
- The only difference between my top 10 and the committee’s is that I favor Penn State over Missouri. I liked what I saw out of the Nittany Lions more than the Tigers when they were last on the field. Tight losses to Ohio State & Michigan trump losses to Georgia & LSU.
- Arizona (9-3)
- Teams ranked 11-14 is the second tier of NY6-quality teams. In the 12-team format, this would make for a very interesting debate. But here’s the thing. With the earlier decision to put Alabama over Florida State, we established that we are ranking teams based on how good they are right now. That’s why Arizona is at #11 instead of #14 as the committee has them. The Wildcats finished with 6 straight wins and has one-possession losses to Washington & USC.
- Oklahoma (10-2)
- I think ranking teams is a balancing act of ‘most deserving’ and ‘best.’ Oklahoma stumbled down the stretch of the season a bit, but their win against Texas is better than any win other teams in this area have.
- Ole Miss (10-2)
- Ole Miss is exactly who we they always are – a high-flying offense against midlevel teams but rendered overmatched against teams more physical than them. Penn State is going to expose the Rebels for the frauds they always are in the Peach Bowl.
- LSU (9-3)
- I’ve said it all season – this is a 6-6 team without Jayden Daniels. But they do have Jayden Daniels.
- Notre Dame (9-3)
- Iowa (10-3)
- Liberty (13-0)
- Worst SOS in the FBS blah blah blah. It’s not like they’ve been squeaking by FCS teams. They’ve won their past 6 games by at least 14 points. If you’ve watched them play, you know their offense is one of the most exciting to watch in the country. I’d love their chances if they were playing Ole Miss or Oklahoma, but they get a tough draw against Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.
- Louisville (10-3)
- A nice side affect of FSU being left out of the playoff: we won’t be forced to watch Louisville in a NY6 game.
- SMU (11-2)
- With 9 straight wins to end the season and a decisive win over Tulane in the AAC title, SMU made a strong case to get the NY6 bid. But a 17-point loss to 5-7 TCU earlier in the season is a little hard to overlook when comparing them to an undefeated team.
- NC State (9-3)
- Oregon State (8-4)
- Oklahoma State (9-4)
- Miami OH (11-2)
- I’m not sure why the committee is allergic to giving a little more love to the mid-majors. Oh wait, it’s because they barely watch the games!
- Tulane (11-2)
- Clemson (8-4)
New to Rankings: Miami OH (23)
Dropped from Rankings: Toledo (20)
Ranked Teams by Conference:
SEC: 5
Big Ten: 4
Pac-12: 4
ACC: 4
Big 12: 3
American: 2
Other: 3 (Notre Dame, Liberty, Miami OH)