Tomorrow, the CFP Committee will come out with their first rankings of the 2024 season. Their stated purpose is to rank the teams based on who is "best" including such qualities as the "eye test." They specifically are not trying to rank teams based on who is "most deserving." Which sounds to us like an excuse for ranking teams higher based on which conference they belong to, whether they actually deserve to be in the playoff or not.
Regardless, our ranking system analyzes the resume of each team - essentially evaluating each team on whether they are "most deserving" to be in the playoff or not. That is a different metric than the CFP Committee's evaluation. We feel it is better in terms of fair competition. But everyone is entitled to their opinion. We are sure others will disagree with our ratings. And that's what's really fun. We have a lot of actual game data to support our opinions, (not just broad generalities like "my team plays in the most difficult conference in America") but we'd love to hear you support yours as well.
If the Baggaley Football Rankings were used to seed teams (highest ranked team from each conference is considered the "conference champion" until there actually is one), here is how the seedings would have turned out based on rankings after 10 weeks in this inaugural season of the 12-team playoff:
Round 1
Game 1 - #12 SMU Mustangs @ #5 Oregon Ducks
Game 2 - #11 Texas Longhorns @ #6 Ohio State Buckeyes
Game 3 - #10 Alabama Crimson Tide @ #7 Georgia Bulldogs
Game 4 - #9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ #8 BYU Cougars
Quarterfinals
Game 5 - #4 Boise State (MWC Champion) vs. Game 1 winner
Game 6 - #3 Army Black Knights (AAC Champion) vs. Game 2 winner
Game 7 - #2 Miami Hurricanes (ACC Champion) vs. Game 3 winner
Game 8 - #1 Indiana Hoosiers (Big Ten Champion) vs. Game 4 winner
(Game 5 winner plays Game 8 winner and Game 6 winner plays Game 7 winner in the semi-finals with the winner of those two games meetings in the finals.)
Conference representation: Big Ten - 3 teams, SEC - 3 teams, ACC - 2 teams, Big 12 - 1 team, Independent - 1 team, AAC (Group of 5) - 1 team, MWC (Group of 5) - 1 team.
Just outside the cut: Ole Miss Rebels (SEC), Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten), Louisville Cardinals (ACC), Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12).
