Greg McElroy argues that Alabama, Texas should be ahead of Oregon in CFP rankings

2023-11-08 12:57

Greg McElroy questions the rankings of Oregon, Texas, and Alabama in the College Football Playoff. Read more.

As the College Football Playoff rankings for Week 11 were released on Tuesday night, ESPN analyst and former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy had some apparent criticism for the Selection Committee.

Particularly in regards to No. 6-8 in the latest CFP rankings, McElroy questioned why his alma mater in Alabama was at No. 8 along with the Texas Longhorns at No. 7 were behind the Oregon Ducks (No. 6) if the Committee was basing its Top 25 on resumé.

McElroy noted that Ohio State being No. 1 over Georgia was about resumé, so why weren't the rest of the rankings following that criteria as heavily.

McElroy argued that Oregon, Texas and Alabama all have only one loss while the Ducks have just win against an above-.500 team while the Longhorns and Crimson Tide have multiple.

Oregon's lone win in that capacity is over Utah, a team navigating this season with a backup quarterback. Texas, meanwhile, has wins over Alabama, Kansas, and Kansas State (with a backup QB). Alabama sports wins over LSU, Tennessee, and Ole Miss.

CFP Rankings: Is Greg McElroy right about Oregon, Texas and Alabama?

It will be interesting to see what would happen if each of these three teams were to win out, including capturing their conference titles.

Based on the current rankings, Oregon (or Washington for that matter) winning out as Pac-12 Champions would likely put them into the Top 4 ahead of the loser of Ohio State-Michigan. However, if Texas were to win out with a win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Longhorns would then have an argument for a better resumé than the Ducks'. The same would be true of Alabama if the Crimson Tide finished 11-1 and then beat Georgia for the SEC title.

The great thing about the College Football Playoff rankings, though, is that these things almost always end up playing themselves out into a relatively easy decision to make. One loss by any of these three teams or even a team in the Top 5 would give more teams a chance to ultimately end up in the Top 4. So while McElroy has a point, perhaps it will be made for him with the results on the field.