College Football

CFP rankings: Georgia in control, Oklahoma and Wake Forest snubbed, more

Updated Nov. 3, 2021 2:37 a.m. ET

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

The 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide — that’s it.

Last year’s edition of Nick Saban’s squad is the only team in history to debut at No. 1 in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s initial Top 25 ranking and finish the season by raising the national championship trophy.

The inevitable occurred Tuesday night, when Georgia was ranked by the CFP committee as the best team in the country.

There has been little-to-no debate about whether UGA deserves to be ranked No. 1. Now, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs will attempt to become the second team to follow through.

The Dawgs opened the season as the No. 5 team in the country, according to the AP preseason poll, and have done little to dissuade analysts and fans alike. They have performed like the best team in the country since a 10-3 victory against a Clemson team most thought was good, and Georgia solidified its position with back-to-back-to-back wins against AP Top 25 and SEC opponents Arkansas, Auburn and Kentucky.

The flaw in UGA –– if there is one –– is at quarterback and in the passing game. Stetson Bennett has yet to pass for 300 yards in a game this season and first earned the starting job with J.T. Daniels being injured earlier this year. But Bennett hasn’t needed to air it out, either.

The UGA rushing attack features four tailbacks capable of starting anywhere in the country, and the leader in the running back room, Zamir White, has rushed for more than 500 yards and averages better than five yards per carry through eight games.

But enough about the offense. The Bulldogs' defense is the reason UGA is No. 1.

UGA fields the scariest defense on a college football team in a decade, judging almost exclusively by how many points it allows — a paltry 6.6 per game. UGA's defense could see all 11 starters drafted into the NFL, and it's led by 6-foot-6, 340-pound Jordan Davis.

This season, from No. 2 on down is where the committee begins to do its work.

Since its inception, the playoff has seen four teams that were initially ranked No. 2 win the national championship. Just one team initially ranked No. 4 –– 2015 Alabama –– and just one initially ranked outside the top four –– 2014 Ohio State, which started at No. 16 –– have won the national title.

That means, based on the CFP's previous seven years, Alabama has the best chance to win this season's title.

Also, no team that appeared at No. 3 in the initial ranking has won it all. But that doesn’t mean Michigan State can’t be the first.

Here are five things that surprised me in the first CFP rankings:

— Oklahoma and Wake Forest ranking No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, and Texas-San Antonio not earning a ranking speaks to how little the committee values winning. It doesn’t seem to matter that the players are doing everything in their power to impress these suits in a boardroom at the Gaylord Texan. To this I ask: Why play football at all?

RJ Young: Undefeated Oklahoma being ranked eighth is the ultimate disrespect

RJ Young reacts to the college football committee's ranking the undefeated Oklahoma Sooners No. 8. Plus, RJ makes a bold prediction: "The Sooners will go undefeated for the first time since 2004."

— Michigan is still in the New Year's Six bowl hunt. If the Wolverines beat Ohio State and Ohio State loses to Michigan State, based on Michigan's having beaten a CFP-ranked Wisconsin and sitting ahead of undefeated OU and Wake Forest, there’s an argument for the Wolverines to play in one of those games.

— Beating Clemson matters, even when Clemson isn’t ranked. Two Top 25 teams — No. 1 UGA and No. 25 Pittsburgh — beat the Tigers, and as much as the committee says it doesn’t come into the boardroom with preconceived notions, I don’t think that statement passes the smell test with these rankings.

— Minnesota ranked No. 20 is absolutely egregious. It lost to Bowling Green at home and is without its top three tailbacks. The committee could’ve put UTSA in this spot, and no one would’ve barked.

— Cincinnati is learning just how little the committee respects teams outside the Power 5. The Bearcats could go undefeated with a win on the road against Notre Dame, a team the committee ranked No. 10, and not make the playoff because the CFP appears to be a Power 5 invitational. Fairness doesn’t seem to factor into it, to which I ask again: What’s the point of playing football –– of even having a scoreboard –– if the committee will just disregard empirical results?

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.