Tuesday’s College Football Playoff Reveal Show on ESPN unveiled the third edition of the college football playoff rankings and subsequent playoff bracket.
Tennessee, the No. 11 team in the rankings, is the first team out of the playoff bracket. Tuesday’s bracket isn’t a projection of what the bracket will look like by the end of the season but simply where teams stand on the pecking order with two weeks left to play in the regular season.
But when lines are seemingly drawn so loosely and metrics are being twisted to justify all sorts of opinions, Tennessee fans honed in on one major inconsistency in ESPN’s reveal graphics.
ESPN brought up a graphic comparing the resumes of three teams ranked inside the top five: No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Indiana.
Texas was shown to have the 5th-ranked strength of record, the 38th-ranked strength of schedule, and key wins over Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
Tennessee fans immediately took issue with Arkansas being a key win for Texas – primarily because it’s being viewed as a bad loss for Tennessee despite the game played in Fayetteville at night.
The committee even said so themselves during the debut reveal show on Nov. 5.
“Tennessee has an impressive win over Alabama at No. 11 and wins over North Carolina State and Oklahoma, 4-1 against teams above .500,” committee chair Warde Manuel said. “The loss at Arkansas was something that we discussed a lot.”
why is Michigan a “key win” for Indiana but not for Texas? This is shameless.
I am legit tired of the grift that is the College Football Playoff committee. pic.twitter.com/ZhpMaAygcm
— 🏈emily🌲 (@emilyofeasttx) November 20, 2024
KMJ Radio’s Christopher Gabriel, a well-known media figure to the Tennessee fanbase, pointed out the same inconsistency on X Wednesday afternoon:
“Similarly, in the realm of changing criteria to justify and validate on the fly, ESPN Analytics showed Texas’ win over Arkansas as a ‘Key Win.’ Yet Tennessee losing to Arkansas… poor/bad loss. You can’t make this stuff up. And yet it’s done without skipping a beat.”
Spot on.
So how is Arkansas a key win for Texas’s playoff chances but Arkansas is also a key loss for Tennessee’s chances pic.twitter.com/h5rWo0dlG3
— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) November 20, 2024
More from RTI: ESPN’s Greg McElroy Understands Tennessee Fans’ Frustration
The committee is slotting the teams where they believe they should be but the justification seemingly changes week to week. And that’s what’s so frustrating to the Tennessee fanbase and other fanbases looking for ways for their team to get in or advance up the rankings.
Keep looking at the same graphic. Michigan is listed as a key win for Indiana but not for Texas. So what that tells you is that Arkansas is a better win than Michigan or else that would take its spot on Texas’ graphic, but it’s still a bad loss for Tennessee.
Again, it’s tough to get a hold on which metrics and statistics the committee actually values when they walk on their own reasoning not just from week to week but even in the same set of rankings.
Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert explained that one on X after the reveal on Tuesday night.
Ole Miss beat Georgia but the Bulldogs have a vastly superior resume.
OM > UGA
Tennessee beat Alabama but Crimson Tide have better resume.
Bama > UT
There’s simply no consistency in what the committee values.
— Ryan Schumpert (@rschump00) November 20, 2024
It’s hard to get an inconsistency past the Tennessee fanbase and this one was no exception.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee football coverage.
