Heather Dinich explains why Georgia could leapfrog Ohio State for No. 1 in next CFP
College football reporter Heather Dinich thinks that there’s a good chance that Georgia could leapfrog Ohio State in the CFP rankings, despite both teams winning.
During an appearance on SportsCenter Sunday morning, Dinich explained that because the Bulldogs got a ranked win against Missouri, the two have much more similar resumes now. That will give the selection committee a lot to think about before the next rankings.
“I think this is going to be a significant discussion for the selection committee when they meet this week because they both won in similar fashion,” Heather Dinich said. “Ohio State still, arguably, has the better resume but when you look at that Notre Dame win, it doesn’t look so great anymore because Notre Dame just lost to a four-loss Clemson team. Penn State could be number 10, though.”
For now, Ohio State’s resume is still stronger than Georgia, with wins over Notre Dame and Penn State. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ biggest wins are Kentucky and Missouri. Still, both teams have more huge games in the coming weeks.
“Then, you look at the Mizzou win for Georgia, where do they fall? Because that’s what’s tricky, right? It’s a Catch-22. You beat the number 12 team but because they lost, how far do they fall? What does it really mean for them?”
To this point in the season, Georgia has done better on the eye test than Ohio State, even with a slightly worse resume. Now, as Dinich explained, the CFP Selection Committee must balance the eye test and resume.
“If Georgia moves to the top spot it will be because they just added to their resumes and the committee simply believes they are a better team, right now. When you look at Ohio State in that first half, 0-for-5 on third downs. They were trailing. And that’s important. How you win matters, just ask Washington. They’re number 5 last week because they didn’t look great in wins against ASU [and Stanford],” Dinich said.
“So, how you win matters. But, at the same time, I’m gonna give Georgia just a slight edge this week because they did add to their resume and because Ohio State struggled against a Rutgers team that their own coach called a work in progress and a one-dimensional offense.”
Ultimately, the top four teams will make the CFP. For now, both Ohio State and Georgia are in a good position to make the Playoff.
The next CFP rankings are set to come out on Tuesday night.
Paul Finebaum breaks down initial impressions of CFP rankings
After the initial CFP rankings, Paul Finebaum broke them down. In particular, he took a close look at the initial decision to rank Ohio State ahead of Georgia.
“This committee valued Ohio State’s schedule, Greeny. What we’re talking about here is a win at Notre Dame and a win against Penn State are both highly regarded. Other than that you can’t judge on eye tests because Ohio State has, at times, not look all that great, or I think Georgia in recent weeks has looked a lot better,” Finebaum said.
“I think they ignored putting Michigan higher for a lot of reasons, which we’ll get to in a minute. But the biggest reason is that Michigan’s schedule has been pathetic.”