Well, the SEC's circular firing squad continues apace with Georgia getting hammered by Ole Miss over the weekend. The SEC's parity has been arguably THE story of the college football season - we could very easily have a 2-loss conference champ. Now, this complicates any good attempt to model, especially contrasting it with a sport and committee which has historically reward the whole winning games things. In some systems (foreshadowing!) it impacts the rankings in a way that is probably unfair. I understand how the real life College Football Playoff Committee is keeping an SEC team in the Top 4.
But before, we discuss that, we need to talk about my alma mater ...
Miami falls from the ranks of the unbeaten, and not just that - but they lose their grip on the ACC's championship berth, at least with my rankings.
In 2003, I was on campus when another fanstorming happened on the Flats:
Just like 2024, then we took down the goalposts and carried them to the university president's residence. Georgia Tech has been up and down as a program, but the ups with a big college football win have always been special.
The Rankings
(through games of 11/9/2024 -rankings method here)
Notes:
As a matter of course, I would probably have Texas ahead of Boise State, despite my own numbers disagreeing. We know Boise State won't end up with a Top 4 seed in real life. That said, their resume is surprisingly strong especially with the almost win at Oregon.
At the moment, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas are the 3 one-loss SEC teams - and Texas gets the SEC's champion's bonus as a result. But Tennessee gets Georgia this weekend which could upend this whole thing even more.
Alabama kept its season alive with loser leaves town blowout of LSU. At #20, it looks like getting back into the Top 12 is too big an ask.
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