Why Oregon remains ahead of Ohio State, plus other CFP rankings notes

In the case of No. 6 Michigan and No. 7 Michigan State, the Spartans’ head-to-head win wasn’t enough to keep them ahead of the Wolverines in the second set of College Football Playoff rankings.

That may lead to you wonder: If head-to-head isn’t the sole determining factor for the CFP selection committee when deciding between similar teams, why is Oregon (at No. 3) still ranked ahead of Ohio State (at No. 4). College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Gary Barta explained Tuesday night.

Both teams are 8-1 after wins last weekend — Ohio State at Nebraska (26-17) and Oregon at Washington (26-16).

“The back-and-forth, looking at the win that Oregon has, the Ohio State win, they also beat Fresno, they won at UCLA … (and) they won at Washington in a really bad weather situation,” Barta said. “You look at Ohio State, they have nice wins at Minnesota and Penn State, beat Maryland. They’re playing really well offensively. Nebraska is a tough place to win at. But as the committee stopped and had that conversation back and forth, both teams won this weekend, and neither team separated themselves.

“Last week the difference-maker for the committee was the Oregon win at Ohio State, and I would just suggest that since nothing really changed in the committee’s eyes since last week, both teams won, both teams were on the road, Oregon maybe shined a little bit more, but at the end of the day Oregon ahead of Ohio State this week.”

Oklahoma could be poised for big jump

The CFP contender with the biggest opportunity this weekend: No. 8 Oklahoma.

One of the reasons the Sooners are ranked as low as they are despite being 9-0 is the lack of wins over ranked opponents. OU can change that Saturday. Not only are the Sooners set to face a ranked team, it’s a road matchup against a Baylor squad that’s 7-2 and ranked No. 13.

 “If you look at it, they are 9-0 and that’s why they’re ranked eighth in the country and not somewhere else,” Barta said. “But they don’t have any signature wins. Their best wins are against Kansas State and Texas Tech. I mentioned last week, the committee noted — as probably anybody who’s been watching Oklahoma (has) — that the quarterback change to Caleb Williams has changed that team. … The committee thinks that made a difference. But there just hasn’t been a signature win yet.

“If you compare them to Michigan State, for example, Michigan State beat Michigan. If you look at (No. 9) Notre Dame, they’ve beaten Wisconsin, they’ve beaten Purdue, so they’re sandwiched in-between there. But there’s a lot of football to be played. Oklahoma is 9-0, and we’ll see starting this weekend.”

Notre Dame ‘right there’

Notre Dame’s résumé has improved thanks in part to the recent play of two early-season Fighting Irish opponents — Purdue, which Notre Dame beat 27-13 on September 18, and Wisconsin, which the Irish beat 41-13 on September 25.

Purdue is 6-3 and ranked No. 19 after a win over then-No. 3 Michigan State last week. Wisconsin, meanwhile, has won five in a row since starting 1-3 and is ranked No. 18 this week.

“We had conversations that grouped everything from Michigan down to (No. 10) Oklahoma State, and we compared all of those teams against each other with all the statistics we look at and we break it down,” Barta said. “… Notre Dame is right there with those groups. They’re 8-1, and they had nice wins at Wisconsin and Purdue.”