Will head-to-head record still dominate, and can a two-match losing team make it into the top four? – The Athletic

Rankings make people very angry, and people tend to stay attached to things they are very angry about. Because they’re engaged and furious, the College Football Playoff and ESPN run a weekly leaderboard show. All of this happened seven years ago, but it’s still somewhat astounding to see the enthusiasm of the reaction to the first Top 25 CFP release.

We all knew we were going to be upset about the Playoff selection committee’s treatment of Cincinnati, and then we were all upset by the committee’s treatment of Cincinnati. We’ll probably go through that exact exercise this week, too. But we’ll also see how far Michigan State falls after its first loss of the year, and we’ll be able to confirm that the ACC isn’t in favor of a Playoff spot based on Wake Forest’s landing points after losing the series. penalty shootout against North Carolina. Other than that, there may not be too much intrigue until we get to the second half of the Top 25.

Tuesday night’s leaderboard is the second of five league tables for the season. The order of the teams will change as the game is played; nothing is set in stone. But the standings will provide a window into this year’s selection committee’s thinking, understanding what it values ​​and how these top teams look at this point. So we’re ready to find out.

Here are the four most pressing questions released on Tuesday.

1. What happens after a weekend of close-ups, lousy wins and poor performances?

Not much? That would be my best guess for this week’s standings, considering the play of most of the top 10. If almost every team is playing at a low level of competition or needs big late game moves to win. If you win, it’s hard to play poorly against any one team. Obviously, Michigan State and Wake Forest have really lost the game, and their new rankings should reflect that. Georgia travel again.