What the CFP Rankings Reveal

What the CFP Rankings Reveal explores the ulterior motives behind the latest committee rankings.

Earlier tonight, a seemingly innocuous crawl at the bottom of ESPN’s coverage told us what we’d suspected all along. About a half an hour prior to the release of the most-recent College Football Playoff rankings, a preview of Saturday’s ACC Championship Game featured the following match-up: No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 11 Georgia Tech. The problem with that, of course, is that those weren’t the current rankings. FSU was No. 3, while Tech was No. 16.

At 7 pm, the new rankings were released, after Rece Davis emphatically reminded us that we (ESPN included) were all seeing these for the first time. And where were the ‘Noles? 4th. The Jackets? 11th. Surprise. This doesn’t necessarily establish that ESPN has anything to do with these rankings, but it does show that the network has no problem being openly disingenuous with its viewers. They obviously had the rankings early– and if they’re willing to lie about that, how else are they fleecing the public?

I’m not going to get into the merits of each squad, or who should be ranked where. Yes, undefeated FSU is behind three one-loss teams. But that’s a different column– one about football. This piece, rather, is about the actual game of football’s absence in these rankings.

The new rankings have Alabama at No. 1, Oregon at No. 2, TCU at No. 3, and FSU at No. 4. There’s just one more set of rankings to come, which will be released after Saturday’s conference championship games. If the top four win, and these rankings remain the same, let’s look at what semifinal games would occur.

Top-ranked Alabama, the darling of the SEC (in which ESPN has a vested financial interest, via the SEC Network), would play in its own backyard, in New Orleans, against the Seminoles, whom ESPN have vilified all year. It would provide ample story lines. Jimbo Fisher taking on his mentor, Nick Saban. Jameis Winston against one of the country’s top defenses. A chance for the SEC to atone for its close loss in last season’s title game against the team that dealt it defeat.

This match-up would also take place at an attractive destination for those wishing to make the drive from either Florida or Alabama. There would be two southeast teams playing in — wait for it — the southeast. Fans would flock to the Crescent City. Ticket sales would soar. Viewership would skyrocket, and with it, ESPN’s ability to demand more for advertising.

The same would be the case in the other semifinal. Oregon would remain on the west coast and host TCU (the only other team west of the Mississippi) in Pasadena. It would be billed as a west-coast shootout, featuring two top-four offenses. The best in the southeast having it out on the Gulf, the flashy, high-octane glitz and flash of the Ducks and Frogs, just outside L.A.

You can’t write it any better. Well, you could, but you’d be plagiarizing, since the Playoff committee just did.

This article isn’t about football because tonight’s rankings aren’t about football. We hear often about how things will play out on the national stage, and that phrasing has never been more appropriate, because this is theater. Entertainment. Let’s not forget: ESPN initially stood for the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (notice how “entertainment” comes first). ESPN is also owned by Disney, and Disney knows two things very well: story-telling and making money. And those in charge want the best story, because stories sell. They have no interest in rewarding those most deserving based on gridiron performance.

It’s a shame for football purists. Excepting the action on the field, the rest of college football essentially is being scripted like professional wrestling.

Excepting the action on the field, the rest of college football essentially is being scripted like professional wrestling.

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This is also why you should’t worry about the ‘Noles remaining in the top four, provided they beat Georgia Tech this weekend. College football needs FSU in the playoff, because the Seminoles are as compelling a bad boy as college football has had since the old Miami Hurricanes (at least that’s how they’ve been painted). People tune-in when FSU is on the ropes. Which, this season, is quite often.

The other day, Jimbo Fisher warned that college football was being turned into a performance, like figure skating. Well guess what: people watched Tonya Harding (again, this comparison merely recognizes how FSU has been portrayed nationally).

Ockham’s razor is the notion that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. And does it ever apply here. College football is seizing upon the opportunity to draw in viewers by shaping, moving, coercing — basically gerrymandering — the narrative, in order to sell. It’s Introduction to Marketing. And the departure of decisions based on actual results that don’t inflate a profit margin.

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