Boo Corrigan explains keeping Florida State ranked over Washington

To some extent, there are two tiers when it comes to the undefeated teams. Georgia is the new No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff rankings, dethroning Ohio State on Tuesday night. Michigan has a case for the top spot as well and picked up a huge win against Penn State. But fighting it out for the No. 4 spot at the moment is Florida State and Washington.

Florida State has held the spot down for three straight weeks. Washington has put together two straight impressive performances but the CFP committee has not budged. The Seminoles are in the all-important top four heading into Week 12.

CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan gave his explanation on keeping FSU higher, saying they thought it was a dominant win against Miami on Saturday. The rivalry factor was taken into account too, with close games always taking place.

However, Corrigan did admit Washington is making it tougher on the committee. Quality wins against Pac-12 opponents are beginning to stack up in a big way.

“Florida State really good offensively, has been really good defensively,” Corrigan said. “Don’t undersell the Miami-Florida State rivalry, as well. That’s been going on for years. Miami hit a big play for that touchdown in the second half and we thought Florida State was a dominant team in there.

“Washington continues to win. Really good defensive second half against Utah, and as we looked at it and evaluate it, as y’all can appreciate, the debate is getting stronger every week as we get more and more data points going through this. But we ended up with Florida State at four and Washington at five.”

Florida State looks to be the safest bet to eventually make the College Football Playoff at the moment. Their spot in the ACC Championship has already been clinched with two nonconference games against North Alabama and Florida remaining on the schedule.

Louisville is the likely opponent in Charlotte on Dec. 2.

Washington is attempting to sprint to the Pac-12 title game, with two tough contests vs. Oregon State and then the Apple Cup against Washington State left. We could be on a collision course to an Oregon rematch in Las Vegas.

If both teams are able to win out, there will not be a debate between them. The committee will have no option but to place them both in the final four as undefeated Power Five conference champions.

If anything, the debate of who deserves to be ranked higher would come down to wanting a better matchup.