The first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2021 season were released Tuesday night on ESPN.
Georgia came in at No. 1 as expected, followed by Alabama at No. 2, Michigan State at No. 3, Oregon at No. 4, Ohio State at No. 5, and Cincinnati (a Group of Five school) at No. 6. Oklahoma (9-0) is ranked No. 8.
The CFP selection committee’s placement of Alabama, Cincinnati, and Oklahoma drew plenty of reaction (even the ESPN analysts were pretty surprised at these rankings), as did UTSA (8-0) being completely left out of the top-25.
First, here’s a look at the CFP top-25:
The top 6️⃣
Thoughts? #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/UPVB1k2OlA
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 2, 2021
🚨 THE CFB PLAYOFF TOP 25 🚨 pic.twitter.com/w7CyOIOQR8
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 2, 2021
And here’s a sampling of how the college football world reacted to the initial CFP rankings:
Alabama is No. 2 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
Rece Davis is "a little shocked by it, just to be honest." pic.twitter.com/l3ZBRRZ7yB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 2, 2021
Haaaaaate Alabama being No. 2. Hate it. Too early for a one-loss team to be that high.
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) November 2, 2021
Alabama: [exists]
College Football Playoff Committee: "Here, have a spot!"— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) November 2, 2021
Alabama’s best win to date is over CFP No. 16 Ole Miss.
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) November 2, 2021
Here's what Kirk Herbstreit had to say about Cincinnati coming in at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings. pic.twitter.com/tj81TRmmBd
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 2, 2021
I don't know what @OU_Football fans are so upset about…in a few years when they're in the #SEC then they don't even have to win all their games and will be ranked #2 #Patience @CFBPlayoff
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) November 2, 2021
Cincinnati is No. 2 in the AP Poll, but No. 6 in the initial CFP rankings.
It matches the lowest CFP ranking for any team ranked top-2 in the AP Poll at any point (2015 Baylor). pic.twitter.com/Sj1rDXhQln
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 2, 2021
Ahhh Cincinnati getting screwed immediately
— Jay Rigdon (@jayrigdon5) November 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1455687295592456196
they’re never letting them in https://t.co/HhUnDDlydQ
— ¡BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL! (@edsbs) November 2, 2021
Kirk Herbstreit reacts to Oklahoma (9-0) being No. 8 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings. pic.twitter.com/1B1f1dAu4q
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 2, 2021
Minnesota at No. 20 while UTSA is unranked is ridiculous.
Strength of schedule doesn’t matter if you *don’t win.*
UTSA is No. 11 in ESPN’s strength of record.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 2, 2021
CFB Twitter reacting to UTSA not being ranked. pic.twitter.com/CdsrqLq7sL
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) November 2, 2021
Surprised about Oregon. Have no problem with Bama. When they started they said “Four best teams.”If you think Bama should be out it’s probably because you hate them or the SEC.
They also do a great job of not prioritizing criteria so that it can’t be held against them later.
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) November 2, 2021
Michigan State, No. 3 in initial College Football Playoff rankings, was 1,000/1 to win national championship in preseason at @SuperBookSports. #Sparty
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) November 2, 2021
The CFP committee does not exist to create the most deserving playoff
They exist to create the best product for advertisers and TV execs
Once they admit that these rankings won’t be so controversial
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 2, 2021
We all thought a monkey would be the biggest joke in CFB this week.
Turns out, it was actually the @CFBPlayoff committee.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 2, 2021
the CFP excluding non-power teams from the Playoff hasn't just made the playoff race less interesting—it further incentivizes any good non-power teams to leave their conferences, entrenching the Power 5 as untouchable and slowly draining the life from non-power leagues
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 2, 2021
Do people forget that college football isn't fair? Because college football isn't fair. It's probably good to remember that. Save yourself some grief.
— Sean Keeley (@SeanKeeleyIsMe) November 2, 2021
[Photo Credit: ESPN]
