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Baylor is ranked No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff Committee rankings. Utah is No. 5 and Oklahoma is No. 6.
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 25. USC is No. 22. Oregon is ranked No. 13. Nobody else is ranked in the Big 12 or the PAC-12.
CFP selection committee chair Rob Mullens tells ESPN the debate between Utah/Oklahoma/Baylor was the "area with the most vigorous debate this week."
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) December 4, 2019
Rob Mullens, the committee’s chair, did not offer a detailed explanation of how close things are between Utah, Oklahoma and Baylor. He basically listed Utah and Oklahoma’s strengths when pressed on the two on the telecast. He didn’t explain why Utah gets the edge.
The big concern I have with the committee’s ranking is how they frame their loss to USC:
Rob Mullens once again mentions Zack Moss injury in Utah's loss to USC "on a Friday night, on the road." ... Reminds me of Kelly Bryant vs. Syracuse a couple years ago. It's almost like that loss didn't happen.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 4, 2019
First, why does a Friday loss mean something different than a Saturday loss? Second, USC played their third string QB in that game. That’s a far bigger deal than Utah missing their starting running back. With the committee giving terrible reasons to ignore that USC loss, I think Baylor’s going to have a tough time jumping a 12-1 Utah.
Baylor’s guaranteed to be in if the Bears win, LSU wins and Oregon wins. And if Baylor, LSU and Utah win, we’ll spend a day arguing that Baylor’s win over Oklahoma should be enough to leapfrog Utah.