Playoff Projection: Florida State regains top seed
It can be assumed that as the college football season progresses toward its finale, the first College Football Playoff, the pool of teams best qualified would come into sharper focus.
That is borne out in the latest Football Four Playoff Projection. The 13-person panel that contributes to the projection awarded votes to just seven teams this week, a season-low.
It also makes sense that the comparative quality within that small pool of teams would come into sharper focus, and that's what appeared to happen with the Football Four panel this week. Florida State, which on Thursday again found itself trailing in a game but again rallied to win and earn its 24th consecutive victory, returned to the No. 1 spot in the projection for the first time since Oct. 7.
The Seminoles earned a season-best 72 voting points this week, two ahead of Mississippi State, which had been the projection's leading vote-getter since Oct. 14. Seven ballots led with Florida State, and six had the Bulldogs No. 1.
Florida State and Mississippi State occupy their own tier in the eyes of the Football Four committee, as do the next two playoff seeds. Auburn, off the strength of defeating Ole Miss on the road and continued success of another team it beat on the road, is the new projected No. 3 seed, and Oregon held steady at the No. 4 seed. Auburn earned 46 voting points, the Ducks 42.
"I've been really impressed with Oregon ever since that home loss to Arizona," said panelist Nicole Auerbach of Paste BN Sports.
After the top four, TCU and Alabama received 20 voting points with TCU winning a tiebreaker for fifth place by being ranked higher than the Crimson Tide on seven of 13 ballots. Michigan State, with three points, was seventh.
"If I had to pick one team and bet all my BBQ Sauce on it to win the last game of the season, it would be the Crimson Tide," said panelist and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. "They're coming together at the right time."
In addition to Auerbach and Ross, the Football Four Playoff Projection panel includes former FBS coaches Tommy Bowden, Rich Brooks, Jim Grobe and Rick Neuheisel, former FBS athletic directors Bill Byrne and Jim Livengood, and Paste BN Sports college sports staff members Joe Fleming, Paul Myerberg, George Schroeder, Daniel Uthman and Dan Wolken.
The panel is modeled after the College Football Playoff selection committee to show what the Playoff pairings might be if they were to be set today. Each panelist enters a six-team ballot, with six points awarded for a No. 1 vote, five for a No. 2 and so on. The projection is purely a mock selection with no bearing on the Playoff selection committee's decisions.
Last week the Football Four committee had a top six of Mississippi State, Florida State, Oregon, Alabama, Auburn and Michigan State, while the College Football Playoff selection committee had a top six of Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn, Ole Miss, Oregon and Alabama. The Playoff committee is scheduled to reveal its second set of rankings tonight at 7:30.
"I have a feeling things are going to get very interesting for the Committee over the next three weeks," Livengood said. "That battle for the No. 4 spot will really take on some scrutiny as we get closer to December."