ESPN College Football Playoff rankings reveal crew debates Georgia vs. Michigan for No. 1

Since the consensus seems to be that Georgia and Michigan (and probably TCU) will all make the College Football Playoff with a loss in their respective conference title games, the main point of interest turns to seeding the trio. On Tuesday after the penultimate rankings dropped, the ESPN crew broke down the case for the Wolverines usurping the top spot from the Bulldogs.

While Georgia held at No. 1 and Michigan claimed the No. 2 spot following a 45-23 win against Ohio State, Rece Davis and Joey Galloway argued that there is a case that wins against the Buckeyes and Penn State are enough for Michigan to move to No. 1. Ohio State is No. 5 in the latest rankings, Penn State is No. 8 — Michigan defeated them by a combined 46 points.

“They beat Penn State soundly,” Galloway said. “Went on the road and beat Ohio State, No. 2, soundly. If there’s an argument for Michigan to be No. 1, it is because Penn State is sitting at No. 8.”

Davis spelled it out a little more clearly.

“Georgia has been No. 1 for a majority of this rankings season. But Michigan now has the best win of the college football season by going on the road to Columbus and handling the Buckeyes, pulling away from them in the second half. Is that enough to make Michigan No. 1? Or are the Wolverines holding on to No. 2? Let’s see who No. 2 is,’ Davis said before the graphic revealed the No. 2 teams. “Michigan.”

Davis continued, saying “That means Georgia hangs on. Now, Georgia’s got great wins, too. They have a neutral site win against Oregon — quasi-neutral site. It was in Atlanta. And the home win against Tennessee when the Volunteers were at full strength, enough in the committee’s eyes to hold off Michigan for the top spot.”

Analyst David Pollack pointed out what is likely the key differentiator: Non-conference schedules.

Michigan’s non-conference slate of Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn went 11-26 on the season; UConn accounted for six of those wins.

Georgia, on the other hand, played Oregon and Georgia Tech on top of Kent State and Samford.

“Michigan’s out of conference schedule, we’ve been talking about that the whole season long,” Pollack said. “If you say Michigan’s No. 1 and you reward them for playing the out of conference schedule that they played? I think a lot of people would be like, ‘Well, why the heck am I ever going to schedule anybody out of conference that’s worth a crud?’

Fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit didn’t have any issue with Georgia being No. 1 and Michigan slotting in behind. They each have a game left and could flip based on results. Herbstreit also reminded that this was all that was left for these teams, to debate seeding.

He, and a lot of folks, are pretty certain both the Bulldogs and Wolverines are locks for the College Football Playoff now.

“I thought Georgia would hold on to that No. 1 spot, being the defending champs and the way they played all year, there’s really nothing that they’ve done,” Herbstreit said. “Regardless, if we wanted to go through every week of their schedule, they deserve to be at that top spot despite Michigan having, as you said, maybe the best win of anybody in what they did last week at Ohio State. I think both of those teams go into the last weekend of championship Saturday, if they lose the game they’re still in. 

“Now that we’ve seen these teams play, it’s pretty much a done deal.”