Greg McElroy wants 'justification' for inconsistent falls in CFP rankings for Tennessee, Oregon State

As Greg McElroy sees it, the College Football Playoff selection committee erred on Tuesday in dropping Oregon State to No. 16 from No. 11 while only sliding Tennessee from No. 18 to No. 21 in the latest rankings. In his opinion, it should have been the other way around, at the very least.

McElroy was upset with the inconsistent movements of the two teams in the rankings given recent results and their records. Oregon State lost to undefeated Washington by two points on Saturday, whereas Tennessee got rolled by undefeated Georgia, 38-10.

“I’m trying to figure out the justification for dropping Oregon State five spots. I look at all these teams that have slid up, Oregon State is sitting through 11 games at 8-3 with some pretty decent wins at their disposal. Yet they free fall, whereas a team like Tennessee gets absolutely boat raced in two consecutive weeks and they drop three spots,” McElroy said.

And the week prior, Oregon State had whipped Stanford while Tennessee got thumped by Missouri.

It’s not that the two teams are comparable, necessarily. Oregon State has a better resume than the Volunteers and is rightly ranked ahead. McElroy’s gripe is with how the Beavers went from the fringe of the Top 10 to the mid-teens while Tennessee only slipped a handful of spots.

“So I’m trying to figure out the justification for the significant drop of the Beavers and not the Volunteers,” McElroy said.

Fellow ESPN talking head Rece Davis offered a potential answer to McElroy’s question.

“Some of those teams they might think are just better,” Davis said of the teams that had passed up Oregon State.

Committee chair Boo Corrigan sought to offer some justification for Tennessee’s ranking

It’s been a couple weeks to forgot of late for Tennessee. Following a road loss, 36-7, to Missouri, the Volunteers came home and got thumped by Georgia, 38-10.

Yet the four-loss Volunteers checked in at No. 21 in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night, perplexing some. It was a point Corrigan was asked to address on a conference call with reporters after the rankings were released.

The main gist? Three of Tennessee’s losses have come against top-shelf teams: Missouri, Georgia and Alabama.

“Yeah, they’ve been a really good team early in the year. When you look at their losses to Alabama, to Missouri, to Georgia, they’ve played really, as a lot of people have, a tough schedule,” Corrigan said.

Beyond the blemishes mostly coming against top teams — one loss was on the road to Florida — Corrigan said the committee is also impressed by the way Tennessee can run the ball on offense and get after quarterbacks on defense.

Running back Jaylen Wright has been enjoying a successful season and the edge rushing tandem of Tyler Baron and James Pearce have combined for 13 sacks.

“But their ability to rush the ball,” Corrigan said. “They’ve got some guys up front defensively, as we look at it, that they continue to impress the committee, and as I said before, there’s 13 people on the committee. We’re making sure we’re getting every angle and making sure we’re making the right decision every week.”