Rippee Writes: CFP rankings are out
People are angry at The Playoff rankings, a look at Liberty and a Magnolia State golf update
Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. We have a new podcast out with my old SuperTalk pal Michael Borkey on the first iteration of this year’s College Football Playoff rankings as well as look at the final quarter of the season for both Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Check that out here or wherever you get your podcasts.
We’ll dive into some similar topics as well as a little golf today.
The first set of CFP rankings are out
And guess what? People are upset. If you missed the rankings, here is what it looked like:
Georgia
Alabama
Michigan State
Oregon
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Michigan
Oklahoma
Wake Forest
Notre Dame
Oklahoma State
Baylor
Auburn
Texas A&M
BYU
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Kentucky
NC State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Fresno State
San Diego State
Pittsburgh
The overarching point of releasing these rankings with a month of season left is for you, yes, you, to get angry about it and tune into the TV talking heads that are angry about it and read the content of the writers angry about it. The more people talk about it and the more people pay attention, the more money everyone involved makes. Yes, it does give us all a vague idea of the committee’s thoughts regarding where things stand, but does that really matter on November 2?
Anyway, most people seem to think Cincinnati got jobbed. I tend to agree. Cincinnati 17-1 over its last two seasons. The only loss in that stretch is a three-point defeat to Georgia. What else can the Bearcats do? They have a road win over a team ranked in the top 10 (Notre Dame) and have effectively pummeled every other opponent on their schedule, including a Big 10 team in Indiana, with the exception of a weird game at Navy that Cincinnati escaped with a 27-20 win. I think the committee’s opinion on group of five teams was already pretty clear with the way UCF, last year’s Cincinnati and others have been treated since this system was implemented, but if there was any doubt left as to how the CFP selection committee views these programs, it was erased last night. They simply don’t believe that Group of Five teams have the same caliber of players and play the same caliber of football as Power Five schools do.
Maybe they are right, maybe they aren’t — but the message is clear. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. No, I don’t think Group of Five teams should be viewed the same as Power Five teams. I don’t think Cincinnati could play a close game with Alabama or this version of Georgia. But I am also fairly confident neither Michigan, Oregon, Michigan or Oklahoma could either. I do, however, think Cincinnati could give all of those schools a fight, and I wouldn’t pick them against Ohio State, but I kind of want to see it. If you’re a fan of a G-5 school, you are likely wondering ‘if not now, when?’ Well, if Cincinnati runs the table and still doesn’t get in over a one-loss P-5 team, then you have your answer: never. It’s never happening in this current setup. Maybe that is already the answer and that is what the committee is trying to tell us. Cincinnati is still in decent position to make the playoff, it just needs a little bit of help and I think those arguing in favor of the Bearcats are saying that they shouldn’t need any help given what they’ve accomplished. That’s more than fair. This system wasn’t designed for G-5 schools. It sucks that that the G-5 is the only level of college football, and really the only faction of college sports as a whole, that isn’t playing for one grand prize. It’s stupid and unfair, but it’s the reality of the situation.
But this is what you get when you have a sport with a nonsensical postseason. It’s not a true playoff without a concrete qualifying system. A bunch of people in a room making a list is an invitational not a tournament. Don’t mistake it for the former. As much as this sport entertains us, its setup is incredibly stupid. Which is why I think getting upset at these things is waste of energy. It’s similar to my point on officiating: enjoy college for what it is — exciting, nostalgic and fun — but don’t get wrapped up in the big picture outcomes it produces. Because it is largely a scam.
Other CFP thoughts
Mississippi State got a ton of respect by being ranked 17th — one slot behind Ole Miss — and I can see why. Does anyone have three better wins than the Bulldogs do? They beat No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 18 Kentucky and No. 19 N.C. State. Mississippi State is a weird club. It’s the same one that nearly lost to Louisiana Tech and was beaten by a bad Memphis team, but it’s hard to argue the Bulldogs shouldn’t be where they are based on their wins.
The committee clearly thinks Oklahoma is a fraud. Maybe that changes if and when the Sooners are undefeated at the end of the year, but for now, the committee isn’t buying what they are selling.
I had no issue with Oregon in. The Ducks beat Ohio State on the road. Yes, the loss to Stanford is bad, but I still don’t have a problem with them being in there. I do wonder if there is some element of wanting to keep the PAC 12 involved in all of this. Hell, the league doesn’t even have a second team in these rankings. Outside of Utah, who could you even argue should be ranked? The west coast is quickly becoming irrelevant amongst the college football landscape. Some of you probably already believe it has become completely obsolete. I am not sure how that is fixed, but I suppose Oregon getting into the playoff would be a decent start.
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Hugh Freeze returns to Oxford this week
Freeze will coach a game inside Vaught-Hemingway for the first time since November 2016. This time he will be on the opposite sideline. I am sure it will be a bit weird and awkward for him, and perhaps those in the stands as well. Some people love Freeze and would gladly have him back as Ole Miss’s head coach tomorrow if that were an option. Others can’t wait to jeer him, make sex jokes and yell mistakes were made after a couple of Bloody Marys. And then some fall in the middle and understand his legacy at Ole Miss is complex. I think the third category is the most rational one, but I am not here to tell anyone how to think or feel.
Freeze led Ole Miss to heights it hadn’t been to in some time. He proved you could build a consistent winner at Ole Miss and recruit top-level players to come to Oxford. He beat Alabama twice and won a Sugar Bowl. He also torpedoed the program on the field, embroiled it in a suffocating NCAA investigation off the the field and eventually embarrassed it due to his own personal shortcomings and resigned in disgrace. All of those things happened and none should be omitted from the discussion regarding his legacy at Ole Miss.
(Freeze beat Alabama on the road in 2015. That team was coached by this staff. Holy cow.)
This just my own opinion, but I think Freeze benefitted a little bit perception-wise from not having to stick around for the fallout that ensued in the three years after his departure. Recruiting misses and scholarship limitations tarnished the on-field product, but he wasn’t on the sideline in a visor and khakis to take the blame or deflect it on the fall guys he hired in Wes McGriff and Phil Longo. Because he was fired when he was, the only blemish on Freeze’s on-field resume is a 5-7 season in 2016 that could largely be explained away if you wanted to spend enough time trying to do that. I don’t think Freeze would have gone 6-6 in 2017.I think his schtick had grown old and that the players tuned him out. I think 2017 would’ve been another 5-7 year or worse. I think 2018 would have been as bad as that or worse, and then who knows what would’ve happened after that? I am doing a recruiting podcast with Weldon later this week on this topic, but if you read what I just wrote and disagree, I’d encourage you to go look at Ole Miss’s 2016-2018 recruiting classes and count how many impact players were in them on the defensive side of the ball. I bet you won’t need a second hand. I also bet you’ll look at a couple names and go ‘who?’ I did it last night and felt like the guy from Major League that says “this guy here is dead.”
“Well cross him off the list then.”
The point is this: Matt Luke endured the brunt of the on-field fallout of Freeze’s implosion. Please don’t mistake that as me being a Luke apologist. He had his opportunities in 2019 and 2020 and squandered them. Both things can be true at once. I just think Freeze is remembered slightly less favorably if he coaches out the 2017 and 2018 seasons. I guess we will never know.
Anyway, Freeze’s legacy is complicated. I don’t know what the ovation or lack thereof will be on Saturday. A mixed bag of cheers and jeers seems appropriate. Then the ball will kickoff, the game will be played and this awkward reunion will fade from everyone’s memory.
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A quick look at Liberty
This section feels more useful in some weeks than others, but let’s take a quick look at the Flames. They are 7-2. Well, Hugh Freeze is 7-0. His assistants are 0-2. I am kidding, sort of. I promise not to do this all week. Their two losses are a 24-21 defeat on the road at Syracuse, who is quarterbacked by former MSU signal caller Garrett Schrader. Remember him?
The other loss was a road loss at Louisiana-Monroe in a game in which Liberty was 32-point favorites. You know who the offensive coordinator for the Warhawks is? Rich Rodriguez. I have no further comment about that.
Quarterback Malik Willis is a projected first round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and will be the first true dual-threat QB Ole Miss has faced since Louisville’s Malik Cunningham. Willis is tough, quick and runs with great vision. He will throw the other team the football and make ill-advised throws as his decision making isn’t always the cleanest. He’s also show a propensity to put the ball on the ground. But, all things considered, he’s a really good quarterback with inferior talent around him. Willis 140-210 (66%) with 21 touchdowns and six interceptions on the year and is averaging 9.5 yards per completion. The six picks came in back-to-back weeks when he threw three at ULM and three more the week prior in a home win over Middle Tennessee State.
Outside of that, it’s fairly underwhelming from a skill position standpoint. Willis has accounted for 30 of the team’s 46 touchdowns this year and its 30 of 41 if you takeout touchdowns thrown by backup quarterbacks.
Defensively, the Flames only give up 300 yards of total offense per game. That’s mostly due to the opponents, but hey, to their credit, the only guy to score 30 on them this year is Rich Rod and they’ve held opponents to 17 points or less in six of nine games. Again, this exercise feels silly given the gap in competition between these two teams, but whatever, I was bored last night and took the time to look at it.
Ole Miss should win. Liberty has a quarterback good enough to make things weird for a bit if the Rebels don’t get off to a fast start. As banged up as this team is, it would benefit the greatly to jump out to an early lead, rest some guys and get the hell out of there even if the separation with regard to the final score isn’t pretty. That’s the part I am most fascinated in. How do Kiffin and this staff handle depth and rest against an inferior opponent? It’s obvious this ship is sunk if Corral reinjures his ankle or has a new injury in this game, and one more lost starter on offense could change the outlook of this last month entirely. If Ole Miss could squeeze a little rest out of this November nonconference lemon, it will be better suited over the final three weeks.
Thornberry Monday-Qs into the Mayakoba
Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry shot 67 to Monday qualify in to the PGA Tour’s Mexico stop — the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
This is a great opportunity for Thornberry, who finished 56th in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings last year and nearly got his PGA Tour Card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Thornberry is fully exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2022 season because he finished in the top 75 in points and made The Finals. This is a chance at a massive paycheck, an opportunity to play on Tour, and hell, you new know what else. A top-10 finish would get him into the next PGA Tour event. In reality, his path to PGA Tour membership will come through the Korn Ferry Tour, but guys have caught lightning in a bottle before with one opportunity on the PGA Tour.
Thornberry tees off 1:25 C.T. on Thursday and 8:45 on Friday.
Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum Davis Riley is in the field. He’s the only one out of the three Mississippians with PGA Tour membership to get into this event. Why? I am not positive but I am guessing it’s because he backdoored a T-7 finish in Bemurda last week and that got him into this tournament. All three rookie Mississippians (Chad Ramey and Hayden Buckley being the other two) have similar base levels of PGA Tour status and this isn’t usually an event in which the rookies get into. But, unless something has changed, if you finish T-10 or better on the PGA Tour — whether you’re a member or not — you get into the next tournament no matter what. He tees off at 8:34 tomorrow morning and 1:14 on Friday afternoon.
One last note: Ramey finished T-17 in Bermuda last week. He shared the lead after the first day.
On the horizon:
Friday pod with a terrific recruiting segment with Weldon Rotenberg and Friday picks with Greg
A closer look at Liberty in tomorrow’s newsletter and some other football stuff
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun by smashing the subscribe button below. It is free.