Iowa Football: If Playoff Ranking reflected resume through Week 10

Teams with Playoff Resumes

Before we get into the rankings, understand that the set of games this week will narrow the field of undefeated teams down to a maximum of four.

If you find your team on this slide, all they really need to do to maintain their playoff-caliber resume is to continue to win.

The Buckeyes, with 59.53 points, find themselves with the best resume. This is pretty impressive considering they have played one game fewer than the team below them. With four more games – one against an, at worst, 8-win Penn State team – Ohio State is unlikely to lose their position in the top 2.

Clemson, technically now with 9 wins if you count FCS opponents, serves as one of the more surprising entries. They barely hold onto their second-place position with 55.6 points, but with only three games left, this is probably the last week with the Tigers this high. Clemson does still play Wake Forest, but all of the teams below them have multiple teams on their schedules that can add to their strength of wins.

Penn State just missed passing Clemson this week, with 55.27 points, and they didn’t even play a game. Penn State plays a road game against an undefeated Power 5 opponent next week. If they win, they may usurp Ohio State in that top spot.

With 53.83 points, LSU is in striking distance of passing Clemson next week. LSU is one of the few teams that have a good resume where a loss might not eliminate them from the playoff. A win over Alabama next week all but guarantees LSU one of college football’s best resumes.

I cannot tell you how much I hate that a system I built has Minnesota as the top 5 in anything, let alone football resumes. It is especially frustrating knowing how Minnesota feels about Iowa football.

The sad truth is that their resume is basically the same as Alabama’s to this point. The Golden Gophers have tallied 45.36 points, which is slightly more than the two teams below them.

I am guessing that putting Alabama this low in any football rating system will stir up some controversy if any SEC fans read this article. Alas, the Crimson Tide, at 45.34 points, have the sixth-best resume.

All this really means is that Alabama does not have the resume to get into the playoffs with a loss to LSU or Auburn.

Oregon, with 45.13 points, is not far from Alabama or Minnesota. A lot of people have eliminated the PAC12 from playoff consideration, myself included. If it comes down to Oregon, 1-loss non-champion Alabama, and 1-loss Oklahoma, Oregon appears to have the advantage. With that said, Oregon has played one more game than Oklahoma, so their ranking is a bit inflated right now.

At 42.02 points, the Auburn Tigers find themselves in a similar position to Oregon. I have the Tigers included on this slide because the point total was fairly close to Oregon, Alabama, and Minnesota, but Auburn only has three more games – one against an FCS opponent – so the chances of them having the resume to compete for a top 4 spot is unlikely.