College Football Playoff: 4 key questions on Texas, Oregon, Utah, Miami, and more

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Will Oregon jump ahead of Ole Miss? Will Miami move up? Diving into key questions facing the Committee

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Tonight brings the latest set of College Football Playoff rankings from the Selection Committee. And while the Week 13 schedule did not have a ton of key games on the slate, there are some burning questions the Committee will need to answer with the fourth installment of the rankings.

What are those questions? Let’s dive into them, and try to offer some guidance for the Committee.

Not that they’re reading, of course.

Will Oregon move ahead of Ole Miss?

Last week the Committee had Oregon ranked at No. 7, just one spot behind Ole Miss.

While Ole Miss was idle ahead of the Egg Bowl, the Ducks took on USC, a team the Committee had ranked at No. 15 last week. Oregon handled things with ease, knocking off the Trojans by a final score of 42-27.

Will that be enough to move the Ducks ahead of Ole Miss? Oregon head coach Dan Lanning made a case after Saturday’s win, pointing to the schedules for Big Ten teams versus SEC teams.

“We just played a really good team and we beat them,” Lanning said. “A lot of times we play really good teams that become unranked all of a sudden and that’s not our fault. Maybe it is our fault, but all we’re worried about is playing the teams we play and doing the job we need to do. We did that job today, and I think that the proof is in the pudding. We played a good team and we beat them.”

“All we can do next week is try and do the same thing. This conference is a really good conference. It’s competitive. We didn’t play Chattanooga State today, like some other places. We competed, so with that being said, it’s tough playing nine conference games. It’s tough playing in this league and we got to take advantage of playing a good team today and attacking that.”

Lanning might have a case, given the Strength of Schedule rankings between the two teams. Ole Miss checks in at 32 while Oregon clocks in at 24. He might also have a case, given what we learned from the Committee last week, which is that the quality of your losses matters a great deal. While Ole Miss lost to a Georgia team that will be inside the top four yet again this week, Oregon’s one loss came against Indiana, a team we expect to be at No. 2 again this week.

Will Miami return to the Top 12?

They’re inching closer and closer to that debate from last week …

Miami checked in at No. 13 in last week’s rankings, one spot behind Utah.

While the Utes needed a 12-point comeback against Kansas State to rally for a 51-47 win on Saturday, Miami handled things against Virginia Tech. Will that be enough for the Hurricanes to jump over Utah?

Probably not, for many of the reasons we talked about last week when comparing Notre Dame and Miami.

The Committee not only gives weight to the quality of your losses, but it also seems to give credit to teams for coming back after slow starts. In Week 12 Texas A&M was down big to South Carolina after a dismal first half, but rebounded for a comeback win.

Addressing the Aggies after last week’s rankings, Committee Chairperson Hunter Yurachek had this to say about that comeback: “From a committee standpoint, I think the second half definitively neutralized the way they played in the first half, especially when you find a way to win a game like that, when you are not very good and you’re not your typical self in that first half,” said Yurachek.

That probably is enough to keep Utah above Miami. But the Hurricanes have a bit opportunity this weekend when they take on a Pittsburgh team that just knocked off Georgia Tech.

What about Oklahoma and Notre Dame?

In last week’s rankings Oklahoma checked in at No. 8, while Notre Dame was one spot behind them at No. 9.

While the Fighting Irish obliterated a banged-up Syracuse team that was starting a freshman walk-on at quarterback by a final score of 70-7, do not expect Notre Dame to move ahead of Oklahoma just yet. The Sooners notched another win over a ranked team, knocking off Missouri by a final score of 17-6.

It was not pretty, but it was probably enough for Oklahoma this week.

Is the door open again for Texas?

Here we go, again.

Every time we think the Longhorns are out, the door cracks open for them once again.

Their loss to Georgia a few weeks ago dropped Texas to three losses on the year, and in last week’s rankings they came in at No. 17. But the two teams ahead of them in the rankings last week — USC and Georgia Tech — both lost, USC to Oregon and Georgia Tech to Pittsburgh.

So that should be enough to see Texas move up to No. 15, one spot behind Vanderbilt, a team that Texas already beat this season. The bigger question will be if the Committee directly compares the 8-3 Longhorns with the 9-2 Commodores. If they do, then Texas’ win over Vanderbilt from a few weeks ago could even see the Longhorns move ahead of them in the rankings, despite Vanderbilt’s win last week.

At a minimum, the door is cracked open again for Texas. But the only way they can truly walk through that door is with a win over Texas A&M this weekend.

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