Joey Galloway 'very surprised' by Ohio State being No. 1 in College Football Playoff rankings

The College Football Playoff selection committee released its first rankings on Tuesday night. There, the rankings ended up being very similar to the top of the AP Poll, with Ohio State ranked first overall. They’d quickly be followed by Indiana and Texas A&M.

That had caught some folks by surprise. The metrics generally associated with the College Football Playoff seemed to favor Texas A&M going into the night. That’s why, even for an analyst like Joey Galloway, who personally ranked Ohio State No. 1 in the country, it was a surprise they found themselves so high in the Playoff rankings.

“I was very surprised, honestly, at the top,” Joey Galloway said on Nonstop. “And we had discussed this. In my own personal rankings, I had Ohio State No. 1, but I did believe that the committee, once you get into analytics, which you and I do when we’re ranking our teams, we don’t have analytics. We’re just looking at these teams, and here’s what we think. But when the committee ranked Ohio State 1, Indiana 2, and Texas A&M 3, when Texas A&M is better in all the analytics, that was a bit of a surprise to me.”

Of course, Joey Galloway is right, and not everyone agrees with Ohio State being ranked No. 1. Among those who pushed back in the wake of the rankings was Paul Finebaum.

“I don’t have a lot, because let’s remember, this is Week 1, and by the end of it, it doesn’t matter a whole lot,” Finebaum said. “But I do have one, if I could share that, and that’s Texas A&M. In many ways, I think they probably have the best résumé in the country. The metrics favor them. I get Ohio State. The eye test has been superb for them. And I also understand Indiana has looked good in every game, and they have that Oregon win.”

Mack Rhoades explains why Ohio State earned No. 1 in initial College Football Playoff ranking

In the initial aftermath of the initial College Football Playoff ranking, committee chair Mack Rhoades defended the decision to rank Ohio State No. 1. In particular, he pushed a blend of the tape and metrics being in the Buckeyes’ favor.

“We had robust discussion about the three of them. Obviously, all three undefeated. We had great discussion about them on Monday. We really, really felt like Ohio State and Indiana were close. When you looked at the statistical data both offensively and defensively, two teams both in the top five offensively. Two teams both in the top five defensively. Both with really, really good wins. Ohio State a win against Washington and certainly against Texas. Indiana, a win against Oregon and Iowa,” Rhoades said.

“When we looked at tape and looked at metrics, we felt like Ohio State was a little bit better up front on the offensive line and we felt like they were a little bit better defensively. Then when we looked at statistics and we included Texas A&M as part of the discussion, we just felt like the separator there was defensively and that those two teams, both Ohio State and Indiana, were better defensively. You’re talking about three great teams, three deserving teams and we really had great discussion, great debate about the three.”

Of course, these are just the first rankings that the selection committee has released. More are on the way, and, on top of that, it appears Ohio State and Indiana are on a collision course. Meanwhile, Texas A&M plays Ohio State’s best win, Texas, later in the season. So, all things should sort themselves out before the postseason.