Gary Barta explains log jam with teams ranked No. 2 through 7

Following the rankings release show on ESPN, College Football Playoff committee chair and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta took questions on a call with the media. He explained the committee’s decision making when it came to the teams behind No. 1 Georgia. 

“Yeah, I called it a log jam,” Barta said. “When you look at 2 through 7, really 2 through 6, the committee goes through each team and talks about if anything changed from last week, their strengths, their weaknesses. As you mentioned, they all won, but nobody separated themselves in that group. Nobody reached out and tried to push themselves ahead.”

The next six teams, in order, after the top spot are: Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Michigan and Michigan State.

Michigan was the only team that looked pretty good last week, as they routed Indiana 29-7. Teams ranked second through fifth won by an average of 8.2 points, all over unranked opponents. Michigan State lost 40-29 at Purdue, and their dreams of an undefeated season came to an end.

When looking at scoring offenses and total defenses, Alabama is the only team in question here in the top two in both categories in their conference. They have the best scoring offense in the SEC, and they are only behind Georgia on defense. 

Michigan State’s scoring defense is the worst unit amongst the group. They rank last among these teams and tenth in the Big Ten at 22.7 points per game.

Big Ten uncertainty to be sorted out in the coming weeks

The biggest gripe with Tuesday’s CFP rankings was by far Michigan State falling behind the Michigan team they beat on Oct. 30.

Looking at their whole body of work, the Michigan defense (16 points per game) has outplayed the Michigan State defense (22.7 points per game), while the opposite is true on offense. Michigan State is scoring 34 points per contest, while Michigan is posting 32.6.

Both schools have remaining games against Ohio State and Penn State where it seems they will not only try to win, but they will try to post style points to win the favor of the committee. 

The Wolverines and the Spartans also have Maryland on their remaining slate. 

Michigan has the bigger test this weekend, as they head to Happy Valley on Saturday night. Penn State is not ranked, but they have two wins over ranked teams (Wisconsin and Auburn), and they played a close contest in Columbus against Ohio State. 

Michigan is 3-3 against the Nittany Lions under Jim Harbaugh, but they are 1-2 at Beaver Stadium. The line is even for the noon ET kickoff on ABC.