Hunter Yurachek: 'Teams that are idle can move' after penultimate CFP rankings

Tuesday night marked the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings announcement. Conference championship weekend will present an opportunity for teams to bolster their resumes and further solidify their spots in the field.

But there could still be some movement for teams that aren’t playing in a conference title game, CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said. He told ESPN’s Rece Davis teams that are idle in Week 15 can still move in the Top 25 rankings. Sunday marks the final rankings announcement, which will put the official 12-team bracket into place.

The issue specifically centers around Notre Dame and Miami – neither of which are playing in Week 15, but played in the regular season. The Hurricanes won that Week 1 matchup. Yurachek said the CFP management committee clarified verbiage over the offseason and idle teams can, in fact, move the data points suggest it.

“The management committee, during the offseason, provided some clarification to some comments that were made last year,” Yurachek said. “Indeed, idle teams can move following the results of the championship games and how they impact the teams that are around those that play in the championship games and data such as strength of schedule for teams that might be idle. So yes, teams that are idle can move up or down.”

The comments Yurachek referenced came from former selection committee chairman Warde Manuel. He said after last year’s penultimate rankings reveal show that the committee would not “adjust” the rankings of teams not playing in conference championship games.

Yurachek reiterated Tuesday, regarding a follow-up about Notre Dame and Miami, that the committee will re-rank the Top 25 teams after conference championships and “we’ll see where they fall” from there. But when asked about the idea of the loser of the SEC Championship – either Georgia or Alabama – falling behind BYU if it wins the Big 12, he said that conversation did not come up this week.

“It did not,” Yurachek said. “We will evaluate the results of the championship games after they are all completed over the weekend.”

Regardless, the debate around Notre Dame and Miami – not to mention other teams in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings – is sure to continue. Conference championship weekend gets underway Friday and continues into Saturday, setting the stage for the final CFP rankings announcement Sunday at noon ET on ESPN.