ATHENS — Gunner Stockton is on the minds of the College Football Playoff selection committee, as chairman Mack Rhoades acknowledged on Tuesday night.
The first-year starting quarterback at Georgia currently ranks fifth among the Heisman Trophy favorites, but importantly, he’s led his Bulldogs team to the No. 5 slot in the first set of CFP rankings that were released on Tuesday.
“We looked at Georgia, and again, really good football team,” said Rhoades, who is also the Baylor athletic director.
“I think Gunner Stockton at quarterback has really progressed, it certainly feels like they have more confidence in him and are doing a lot more with him.
“He’s another, maybe similar to (Texas A&M quarterback) Marcel Reed, where he can beat you with his arm, (and) he can beat you with his feet.”
Rhoads, speaking on the CFP rankings teleconference on Tuesday, indicated Georgia’s win over Ole Miss and home loss to Alabama were key evaluation points for the committee.
Why Buckeyes?
Ohio State was ranked the No. 1 team followed by fellow Big Ten member Indiana, and then the SEC’s only undefeated team, Texas A&M, was ranked at No. 3.
“There was robust conversation and discussion about one through three, all three of them undefeated, certainly great conversation and discussion about Ohio State and Indiana,” Rhoads said. “Two really quality teams, two teams with really good wins, Ohio State versus No. 11 Texas and a win over No. 23 Washington; Indiana at No. 9 Oregon and No. 20 Iowa, both defenses, both offenses ranked in the top five and so it was certainly close.
“When we looked at film. and we’re blessed to have committee members and (former) coaches who do a lot of film work, we just felt like Ohio State had a slight edge when we think about offensive line play and a slight edge defensively.”
SEC, SEC
Alabama, which beat Georgia 24-21 in Athens on Sept. 27, held the No. 4 spot in the first set of rankings on the strength of that win, with the Bulldogs at No. 5 and Ole Miss at No. 6.
BYU, Texas Tech, Oregon and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.
The SEC has nine of the top 25 teams in the CFP committee’s initial rankings, and some new and adjusted metrics could have something to do with that.
“We introduced the new metric, which is record strength, which measures how well a team performs against its schedule,” Rhoads said, “and that’s a cumulative sum of scores as we progress through the year.
“And then we took schedule strength and we tweaked it …. we put more weight on the stronger teams, and so that was the adjustment for schedule strength.”
ACC Scheduling woes
Virginia, at No. 14, is the highest-ranked ACC team. The ACC’s conference championship game winner, regardless of rank, is guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field.
Georgia Tech, which Georgia finishes the regular season against on Friday, Nov. 28 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, was ranked No. 17 — one spot ahead of the Miami team led by former UGA quarterback Carson Beck.
“Georgia Tech, again, quality team, I think Haynes King is everything to that team, to this point and time, and I think you can say this about the ACC,” Rhoads said, “not, at least at this point, a lot of non-conference signature wins.
“We looked at Georgia Tech at North Carolina State, and just felt like North Carolina State dominated Georgia Tech on both sides of the ball, a bad night for Georgia Tech, but there’s a lot of ball still to be played.”
Beck under pressure
Miami, a team that beat the CFP’s No. 10-ranked team, Notre Dame, was a team Rhoads said the committee felt strongly about at the start of the season.
“We all believe Miami has a talented team …. if they can correct some of the woes they’ve had, in terms of turnovers, and certainly on the offensive side of the ball, they could certainly have an opportunity to win games,” Rhoads said.
“For Miami, I’m just going to say it, for Miami, it’s about consistency, and their lack of consistency, and we need to see more consistency out of Miami headed down the stretch.”
The highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion also gets an automatic bid in the 12-team CFP field. Memphis was not in the CFP committee’s top 25-ranked teams, but it is currently considered the highest-ranked Group of Five team, as it is No. 22 in the AP Top 25 poll.
CFP Rankings
(AP Top 25 rank in parenthesis beside record)
1. Ohio State (8-0) (1)
2. Indiana (9-0) (2)
3. Texas A&M (8-0) (3)
4. Alabama (7-1) (4)
5. Georgia (7-1) (5)
6. Ole Miss (8-1) (7)
7. BYU (8-0) (8)
8. Texas Tech (8-1) (9)
9. Oregon (7-1) (6)
10. Notre Dame (6-2) (10)
11. Texas (7-2) (13)
12. Oklahoma (7-2) (11)
13. Utah (7-2) (17)
14. Virginia (8-1) (12)
15. Louisville (7-1) (14)
16. Vanderbilt (7-2) (15)
17. Georgia Tech (8-1) (16)
18. Miami, Fla. (6-2) (18)
19. USC (6-2) (20)
20. Iowa (6-2) (*26)
21. Michigan (7-2) (21)
22. Missouri (6-2) (19)
23. Washington (6-2) (24)
24. Pittsburgh (7-2) (*28)
25. Tennessee (6-3) (23)
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