Scarlet Sunrise: CFP chair explains why Georgia jumped Ohio State in rankings

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CFP chair explains why Georgia jumped Ohio State in rankings

Back-to-back reigning national champion Georgia leapfrogged Ohio State in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs have reclaimed the No. 1 spot they’ve so often owned the last few seasons, and the Buckeyes slid to No. 2 Tuesday night.

READ: Buckeyes fall out of top spot in latest College Football Playoff rankings

Here’s the top six right now:

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Florida State
5. Washington
6. Oregon

The only movement in that group was Ohio State falling one spot, and Georgia climbing one spot. So what drove the CFP committee to make that decision?

Here’s what CFP chair, and North Carolina State athletic director, Boo Corrigan told the media last night on his weekly teleconference:

“We go in there every week and repeat it again with a clean sheet. You look at the Missouri win [Georgia had] — Missouri’s win in turn over Tennessee — and the Mississippi win. Looking at the totality of the schedule as we go through this, 5-0 against teams that are .500 and better, the win over Florida, the win over Kentucky … and Ohio State continues to be a really good team, particularly with their defense and their offense coming along and having dynamic players on the offensive side of the ball like Marvin Harrison Jr. Again, active strong debate in the room as we’re going through this, but we as a group came up with Georgia 1 and Ohio State 2.”

Boo Corrigan, CFP chair

Corrigan was referencing Georgia’s 52-17 beatdown of then-No. 9 Ole Miss as well as the Bulldogs 30-21 triumph over now-No. 9 Missouri the previous week.

What’s noteworthy, however, is the fact that Ohio State remained ahead of Michigan this week. While the Buckeyes stitched together a dominant performance against Big Ten bottom dweller Michigan State, Michigan delivered its best victory of the season — a 24-15 win at then-No. 10 Penn State — last week.

Still, Ohio State got the nod over its rival from the committee.

Corrigan was asked — with the Buckeyes’ offensive resurgence in mind — how much one week can change the perception of a team on one side of the ball.

“As we’re looking at it, it’s them, but it’s also what the teams around them do,” Corrigan said. “So we’re trying to take everything — you’re seeing improvement from a lot of the teams that we’re talking about in how they’re playing. In some cases players coming back from injury and just making sure that we’re trying to read the whole piece of what’s going on.

“Ohio State has been hit by the injury bug as well, and seeing them have their guys back on the field continues to impress the committee.”

Corrigan was also asked directly about the comparison of No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan, CFP discourse that ultimately won’t matter after the rivals face off in Ann Arbor on Nov. 25.

“Looking at Ohio State, the win over Penn State that they now share with Michigan, Ohio State has got the win over Notre Dame, 5-0 against teams with winning records, top-five defense,” Corrigan said. “Their offense, to your point, put up 38 last week, and Michigan continues to come along and continues to be dominant in the games that they’ve played.

“As we go through it each week, we continue to look at everything, and, after Week 11, we ended up with Ohio State at 2 and Michigan at 3.”

It’s important to keep in mind that the committee hasn’t been factoring in the Michigan sign-stealing fiasco to its weekly rankings.

What’s next for Ohio State at defensive tackle if Mike Hall Jr. isn’t available?

Ohio State defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. played only the first two defensive series against Michigan State last weekend. It’s unclear if or when he suffered an injury.

Head coach Ryan Day said he didn’t have an update to provide about the status of Hall Tuesday.

If Hall isn’t available, what are the Buckeyes’ next steps at defensive tackle? Lettermen Row tackled that question here.

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Predicting Ohio State to land priority 2025 running back target

Ohio State could be well on its way to landing its next running back.

2025 four-star Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage prospect Byron Louis is coming off his second game day visit to Ohio State this season. In addition to his visit to the ‘Shoe last weekend, he was also in Columbus for the Buckeyes’ top-10 showdown versus Penn State.

Lettermen Row recruiting analyst Matt Parker is placing a prediction in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine for Ohio State to land Louis.

Find out more details here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Minnesota: 3 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 10 days

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