Where Will UCLA Football Be In College Football Playoff Rankings?
With the College Football Playoff Committee releasing their initial rankings this afternoon, where will UCLA Football be?
Every ranking before today is now obsolete. That includes the #22 ranking the UCLA Football team currently holds in the AP Top 25 Poll.
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None of it matters anymore. At least it will not after 4pm PT when the College Football Playoff Comittee releases their initial rankings for the 2015 season.
College football’s answer to the BCS begins its second season this evening when we find out what the true Top 25 is. But what every Bruin fan wants to know is, where does UCLA Football fit into the poll to end all polls?
One thing about the polls, as ESPN states, is that the AP Poll will not be a reference for the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings, “Some of the selection committee members don’t even look at [the AP Poll], and they certainly don’t base their rankings on it or use it as a guide.”
That essentially leaves the committee’s rankings wide open as they have their own set of criteria in deciding who the top four teams are, let alone the entire College Football Playoff poll.
Per their site, collegefootballplayoff.com:
"The selection committee ranks the teams based on conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, comparison of results against common opponents and otheir factors."
A few of these factors will not come into play until end of the regular season so it is hard to predict the outlook, but right now it is not a stretch to say that the Bruins could receive a 20-25 spot in the first CFP rankings of 2015.
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Though the CFP will not use other polls to base theirs on, the consensus seems to be that this is where UCLA Football should be. The AP Poll, Amway Coaches Poll and ESPN’s Football Power Index (which takes into consideration factors like record and strength of schedule) all have UCLA ranked 22nd in their polls so expect something similar from the College Football Playoff committee this evening when the rankings are announced.
Though it is not a Top 4 spot, there is plenty of time for UCLA Football to turn that around. It will be difficult, but not impossible. UCLA just has to win out and capture the Pac-12 Championship. Simple.