College Football Playoffs Week 1 Rankings

The initial College Football Playoff rankings are out for 2016!  Everybody lose your minds!  From coast-to-coast, people are asking questions as to why their team was slighted or how their team was justly rewarded for their performance. 

I’ve spent the past couple of years explaining the methodology of the CFB Selection Committee because their rankings make sense if you view it as a moving target.  Because I want to ensure that you too have a giant college football brain, here is a simple way of viewing the CFB Rankings.

• Rankings in Weeks 10 thru 14 are based on the overall resume for each team. 
• The Committee weighs who you’ve played (Strength of Schedule), what your results were given your schedule (Strength of Record), and your team’s ability to dominate competition (Game Control).
• Rankings for Week 15 are when the CFB Committee moves the target.  As team’s who have won a championship take precedent over teams that haven’t.

For a team like Texas A&M, who shows up 4th this week in the CFB Playoff Rankings, the Aggies have played the 26th ranked schedule in the country and have only lost to #1 Alabama on the road.  That puts them significantly ahead of Washington, who has played the 68th ranked schedule in college football.

But by the time we reach Week 15, the Aggies will be passed as they have a very outside chance of reaching the SEC Championship Game.  If Alabama wins out and wins the SEC, that essentially ends A&M as a playoff team.

The CFB Committee has yet to give us a playoff participant who was a not a conference champion.  The system was designed to ensure that a championship game featuring Alabama versus LSU will never happen again.  One would have to believe that a two-loss conference championship would have a better shot than a one-loss team who did not win a championship.

With that in mind, here are a few teams that can win out and reach the playoffs:

Alabama

Clemson

Michigan

Washington

Ohio State

Auburn

Nebraska

Florida

LSU

Oklahoma

Colorado

Baylor

Oklahoma State

Virginia Tech

West Virginia

Washington State

Takeaways - NFL Week 8

A monkey off of the Falcons’ backs:

Falcons: snapped a 4-game losing streak to Packers Falcons: snapped a 6-game losing streak to NFC North teams

Aaron Rodgers' last 2 TD were to Geronimo Allison & Trevor Davis. Rodgers had never completed a pass to either in his career prior to today

Getting help from The Raiders:

Derek Carr has arrived.  After last season’s breakout he’s now arguably the best young quarterback in the NFL.  Derek Carr is the 3rd QB in NFL history with 500 passing yards, 4 TD passes & 0 interceptions in a game (Big Ben 2014 - YA Tittle)

Derek Carr had 71 passing yards negated by penalty. He finished 41 yards shy of Norm Van Brocklin's NFL-record for pass yards in a game.

Amari Cooper had 12 catches for 161 yards in the second half today, more yards than he had in any GAME in his career

The Raiders have had 23 penalties today, most in a game in NFL history

Most Yards Penalized in Single Game - All-Time 212 Titans vs Ravens, 1999 209 Browns vs Bears, 1951 200 Raiders at Buccaneers, Today

Saints 25, Seahawks 20 Drew Brees: 58th straight home game with a TD pass (extends NFL record)

Carolina beats Arizona 30-20:

The Cardinals had a 2nd-and-44 situation. The last time a team needed 44+ yards on 2nd down was in 2001 (Eagles had 2nd-and-48)

Retirement:

Andre Johnson is the only player to play in the NFL this season that ranked in the Top 10 all-time in both receptions and receiving yards

The struggle is real for Russell Wilson:

Russell Wilson: 0 TD passes for 3rd straight game, becoming 1st Seahawks QB to have 3 straight starts w/out TD since Matt Hasselbeck in 2001

Dallas Cowboys now 6-1:

Dak Prescott is 1 of 6 rookie QBs since the merger to win 6 straight games and the first since Robert Griffin III in 2012. (ELIAS)

Ezekiel Elliott: recorded at least 140 Yds from scrimmage in 5 straight games, longest such streak since Chris Johnson in 2009-10 (11 games)

Crown'Em:

The New England Patriots have had the NFL’s best offense over the past four games, which just so happens to be when Tom Brady returned to the team:

Tom Brady had 4 TD passes Sunday for the 25th time in his career. Only Peyton Manning (35) and Drew Brees (29) have had more such games

Patriots: 4th time starting 7-1 or better in franchise history (reached Super Bowl 2 of previous 3 such seasons) (26-3 Brady vs Bills)

Takeaways - NFL Week 3

From ESPN & Elias!:

Falcons: 1-15 in road games on Monday Night Football, including 12 straight losses, longest streak in the history of #MNF (via @EliasSports)

Since Les Miles' 1st season at LSU in 2005, Tigers have 55 wins in which they trailed at some point during game, most in FBS in that span

Cam Newton pressured or sacked 17 times today! When Newton gets pressured/sacked 14+ times in a game, Panthers are now 0-11 (inc. playoffs)

Panthers eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the 30th straight game, tying the 1957-60 Browns for 3rd-longest streak in NFL history

Panthers' last 10 drives today ended: safety, punt, missed FG, punt, INT, punt, INT, punt INT, turnover on downs

Cam Newton's 16th career game with multiple interceptions. Entering today, the Panthers are 4-11 in those games

The Steelers had a streak of 305 straight games without trailing by at least 30 points.  The longest streak in NFL history via @EliasSports

Eagles are 11th tm under current playoff format (1990) to win 1st 3 games of season by 14+ pts. Previous 10 made playoffs & 4 won Super Bowl

Steelers 34-3 loss:  It's the largest loss for the Steelers since Week 2 in 1989, a 41-10 loss to the Bengals

Carson Wentz has thrown 102 passes and 0 INTs this season, most passes thrown w/out an INT to begin a season by rookie QB (via @EliasSports)

Darren Sproles' 73 yd TD catch is the longest reception by an Eagles RB since Herschel Walker on Sept. 4, 1994

Joe Flacco had his 14th career rushing TD Sunday, as many as all other Ravens quarterbacks combined in franchise history.  Matt Ryan has 5 rushing TDs, but none since the 2012 season.

Joe Flacco's streak of 21 straight completions Sunday ranks tied for 3rd in a single game in NFL history via @EliasSports

Justin Tucker is now 11-for-12 in his career when kicking with a chance to tie game or take lead with under 2 minutes left in regulation

Russell Wilson threw for 233 yards in the first half. That's the 2nd-highest total he's ever had in a single half (237 at Falcons in 2013)

Josh Norman lined up across Odell Beckham Jr. on 53 of Giants' 61 plays. On those plays, Beckham had 6 catches for 107 yards on 9 targets

Odell Beckham Jr. w/ 200th career catch in his 30th game. That's the fewest games to reach 200 receptions in NFL history (via @EliasSports)

Ryan Fitzpatrick: 1st NFL player with 6 INT & 0 Pass TD in a game since Tom Tupa in 1989.

Ryan Fitzpatrick's 6 interceptions today ties a franchise record (Joe Namath did it 3 times)

Jets now have 8 turnovers, their most in a game since 1976

Ezekiel Elliott's 140 rushing yards are the second most by a player in a game this season (DeAngelo Williams, 143 at Redskins in Week 1).

Redskins 29, Giants 27 Redskins: 4th straight road win (their longest streak since winning 4 straight road games in 2008)