Iowa football: Initial CFB playoff rankings reveal bias and answers

The first CFB Playoff rankings were revealed last night, and we learned that the Iowa football team landed at #18 along with other important details.

After months of meaningless polls giving teams a false sense of hope as to where they stood in the college football landscape, the first iteration of the only meaningful poll, the College Football Playoff rankings were released last night. Among the top-25 teams was the Iowa football team sitting at #18, right within the range I predicted.

But that news didn’t particularly stand out to me. I expected it. There were, however, five other things that caught my eye.

Here’s what we learned from the committee’s first poll of 2019.

1. The biggest thing I learned was that the committee can pretend like bias is removed with this new method, but it clearly remains and the evidence exists in Notre Dame’s #15 ranking. Their strength of schedule is solid as it sits at 34th in the nation, but they have two losses (a close game to Georgia and a blowout loss to Michigan). None of their wins have come against top-25 teams either. Meanwhile, the Iowa football team’s strength of schedule is 37th in the nation and their two losses have come to an undefeated Penn State team and to Michigan by 7.
2. Big wins mean more than big losses. This was to be expected I guess, but it strengthened the point when Kansas State, another 6-2 team was ahead of the Iowa football team. Both of their losses have come to ranked (albeit lower) teams, but their big win over Oklahoma gave them the edge. The same holds true for #6 Georgia who lost to South Carolina earlier this season, but just beat Florida.
3. The committee doesn’t care for Minnesota. And neither do I at this point. The committee is obviously not impressed with the Gopher schedule as they are the lowest-ranked undefeated team in the poll, just one spot in front of the Iowa football program. Fortunately, we are about to learn a lot about the Gophers on Saturday.
4. There is going to be significant movement in the top-10. We still have Alabama vs LSU, Penn State vs Ohio State, and Auburn vs Alabama left this season, and quite a few more ranked matchups the rest of the way. Buckle up football fans.
5. The Iowa football team has a good shot at a New Years Six Bowl if they care of business. They are within spitting distance of the top-12 teams, and if they win out and beat Wisconsin and Minnesota, they are there easy.

With just a third of the college football regular season left, things are about to get real interesting for all teams including the Iowa football team.

Can they salvage a disappointing two-game stretch to finish 10-2? We’ll find out Saturday when they take on one of their toughest opponents to date.