USC Ranked No. 9 in First 2022 CFP Rankings
The USC Trojans (7-1, 5-1) are No. 9 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
It’s an exact match to the AP and Coaches Polls this week, where USC is ranked No. 9 in both polls.
This is the first of six rankings, with the final CFP teams announced on December 4. USC has home games against Cal, Colorado and Notre Dame, with a road trip to No. 12 UCLA coming up in November. And if the Trojans are going to make the CFP this season, they’ll need a win in the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas on Dec. 2.
The top four teams in this first ranking are: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson.
This is the first time USC has been included in the CFP Rankings of a full season since the final poll of the 2019 season. That year, USC was No. 23 in the Week 3 Rankings, then No. 22 in the final three rankings. The Trojans were then blown out 49-24 in the Holiday Bowl by the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes.
USC was ranked in all five editions of the 2020 rankings, though the Trojans played just five regular-season games that year.
It’s a big year for the Pac-12. This is the first time the conference has placed two top-10 teams in the initial CFP Rankings. Oregon leads the way at No. 8. USC is at No. 9. UCLA is at No. 12. And Utah is in at No. 14.
The Pac-12 has five teams in the initial rankings this season. Oregon State checks in at No. 23.
In 2021, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan State and Oregon were the top four teams in the first CFP Rankings. Cincinnati and Michigan, ranked Nos. 6 and 7 in the first rankings, eventually replaced Michigan State and Oregon as CFP teams.
Lincoln Riley Doesn’t Care
USC fans might have any number of emotions about these initial rankings. But head coach Lincoln Riley doesn’t have any.
“I don’t even look at them,” Riley said of the rankings following Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t care about them. Most of the time I don’t even know what it is. Because it doesn’t matter right now. It does not matter one bit.”
Riley said he talked to the USC team about watching the rankings and how little they matter. He told a story about how his Oklahoma team was highly ranked partway through the year and a loss sent them down the rankings. The talk then was how they were now out of the playoff conversation.
“You keep winning, it takes care of itself,” Riley said.
In 2015, Oklahoma was ranked No. 15 in the initial CFP rankings. The Sooners climbed to No. 3 and eventually landed as the No. 4 team in the CFP that year. That was Riley’s first year as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Riley’s 2019 Oklahoma team was in this exact position. Those Sooners were 7-1 and ranked No. 9 in the initial CFP Rankings. They ultimately went on to grab a No. 4 seed in the playoffs after beating Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game.
“It matters none,” Riley said of the early rankings. “I spend not 1% of my energy, brainpower, attention, I could not care less. I care about it at one time and that’s the last one. That’s all that matters.”
