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Consensus Poll:
Rank | Team | Points |
1 | Ohio State | 100 |
2 | Oregon | 94 |
T-3 | TCU | 91 |
T-3 | Alabama | 91 |
5 | FSU | 82 |
6 | Michigan State | 78 |
7 | Baylor | 74 |
8 | Georgia Tech | 73 |
9 | Mississippi State | 58 |
T-10 | Georgia | 54 |
T-10 | Boise State | 54 |
12 | UCLA | 52 |
T-13 | Wisconsin | 51 |
T-13 | Arizona State | 51 |
15 | Kansas State | 49 |
16 | Clemson | 48 |
17 | Arizona | 43 |
18 | Missouri | 33 |
19 | Ole Miss | 31 |
20 | Utah | 20 |
21 | USC | 15 |
22 | Memphis | 13 |
23 | Marshall | 10 |
24 | Louisville | 6 |
25 | Notre Dame | 3 |
Individual Polls:
Chris | Andy | Kurt | Robert | |
1 | Ohio State | Ohio St. | Ohio State | Ohio State |
2 | Oregon | TCU | Alabama | Oregon |
3 | TCU | Oregon | Oregon | Alabama |
4 | Alabama | Alabama | TCU | TCU |
5 | FSU | Florida St. | Michigan State | Florida St. |
6 | Michigan State | Georgia Tech | Baylor | Georgia Tech |
7 | Baylor | Boise St. | Florida State | Michigan St. |
8 | Georgia | Michigan St. | Georgia | Baylor |
9 | UCLA | Baylor | Georgia Tech | Mississippi St. |
10 | Georgia Tech | UCLA | Mississippi St | Wisconsin |
11 | Wisconsin | Kansas St. | Auburn | Clemson |
12 | Boise State | Arizona St. | Kansas State | Boise State |
13 | Arizona State | Mississippi St | Arizona | UCLA |
14 | Mississippi State | Arizona | Arizona State | Arizona St. |
15 | Clemson | Missouri | Mississippi | Kansas St. |
16 | Arizona | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Mississippi |
17 | Kansas State | Georgia | Clemson | Georgia |
18 | Ole Miss | Clemson | Missouri | Arizona |
19 | Missouri | Utah | Boise State | Missouri |
20 | USC | Marshall | UCLA | Auburn |
21 | Utah | USC | Minnesota | Memphis |
22 | Memphis | Louisville | Utah | Utah |
23 | Notre Dame | Memphis | USC | Marshall |
24 | Stanford | Mississippi | LSU | Louisville |
25 | Marshall | Air Force | Memphis | Minnesota |
Thoughts:
Ohio State earned the top spot, after coming away victorious in the national championship game. They defeated Oregon who would stay in second. The real interesting spot here is TCU tying for the third spot with Alabama. They absolutely dominated Ole Miss in their bowl game and possibly deserved a berth in the playoff, although with the resumes each had at the time I do believe that the committee made the best possible choices for the playoff.
Boise State made the way up after defeating Arizona, who tumbled 6 spots.
The SEC may have been overvalued as I have stated several times over these rankings. When one conference is more highly valued all their wins are inflated, and the SEC as a whole had a bad showing this bowl season, there are always excuses made, but in the end the performances do matter. That's what really makes the playoff so good, it helped eliminate some of those assumptions by creating matchups that had been mere hypotheticals in the past. Teams like Boise State or the Urban Meyer coached Utah teams come to mind for instance. College football is moving towards a system that will allow the best teams to prove who is best through direct competition and not on the back of voters who may not even watch games on the west coast. The best way to break bias is through evidence, this year's playoff started gathering that.