Iowa Football: If Playoff Ranking reflected resume through Week 10

New Year’s Six Resumes

Obviously, some of the teams in the last slide will ultimately play in non-playoff New Year’s Six Bowl games.

The teams mentioned below have good resumes that are good enough to compete for a spot in the New Year’s Six, but not good enough for the College Football Playoff.

Michigan, with two division losses, cannot make the College Football Playoff this year. However, with 40.97 points in the resume ranking system, they can earn a spot in one of the bigger bowl games outside of the playoff. Their resume still has upside with games against Indiana and Ohio State still on the schedule.

Utah has earned 40.462 points but does not have a team with a winning record left on their schedule until the PAC12 Championship Game. If resumes truly guide where a team is bowling in the postseason, the Rose Bowl is the Utes’ ceiling.

Baylor, at 40.457 points, is incredibly close to 1-loss Utah. However, they are also the undefeated team with the worst resume. With games still remaining against Texas and Oklahoma, along with the Big 12 Championship Game, there is some upside. Still, they are in the weakest position of any undefeated team.

39.49 points are good enough to give the Bulldogs the 12th best resume. I’m sure this will earn the ire of readers, but Georgia does not have a playoff resume right now. They play four more games – three against teams with winning records – so there is a lot of upside. The fifth game against undefeated LSU or Alabama would likely be enough to push Georgia into playoff contention.

SMU may have lost their chance at a New Year’s Six on Saturday with their loss at Memphis. Still, at this point, they have the 13th best resume with 38.79 points.

Cincinnati, despite the blowout loss to Ohio State in Week 2, has the best resume of the Group of 5 teams. I understand that their 37.25 points fall below SMU, but Cincinnati still can win play in the AAC Championship Game, while SMU may have lost that chance.

Memphis, as the 15th best resume with 36.84 points, shows that the winner of the American conference should get the Group of 5 spot in the New Year’s Six Bowl.

The Florida Gators only play one more team with a winning record and count two FCS wins as part of their seven this season. Without much upside, their 36.84 points are on the fringe of being of New Year’s Six Bowl quality.