CFP Selection Committee chair Boo Corrigan shares why TCU passed Tennessee, backs off prior stance

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee revealed its updated rankings after a big week of college football saw some contenders shoot up the board and others plummet out of contention. After opening in the top spot, Tennessee suffered a road loss against new No. 1 Georgia before falling out of the top four and into the No. 5 spot, behind all four undefeated FBS teams.

Of the remaining undefeated squads, TCU has come under the most criticism given they are in the Big 12 and have been forced to come from behind against inferior competition multiple times already this season. Despite another close call in Week 10, they leapfrogged the Volunteers into a CFP position.

“Well they’ve got six wins over teams that are .500 over better, they’re averaging 43 points per game, and as you know – we value wins,” said CFP Selection Committee chairman Boo Corrigan during an interview with ESPN’s Rece Davis. “And they continue to find a way to win and not give up those point in the second half. And it really was impactful to the committee.”

The argument for putting an undefeated team over a team with one loss is easy on paper but made more difficult thanks to a previous stance by Corrigan that TCU played in too many close games for the committee to rank them higher than No. 7 just a week ago.

Tennessee will feel hard done after seeing the change of heart, especially given their resume which features wins over the No. 7 and No. 9 teams, with the only loss coming to Georgia. The two teams must continue making their case to the committee ahead of next week’s rankings reveal as the Horned Frogs take on Texas and the Volunteers welcome Missouri.