Louisville Football: 5 surprises from the Week 11 playoff rankings

We take a look at five surprises from the week 11 college football playoff rankings and where the Louisville football team landed.

The week 11 College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night and the top six landed as expected. The Louisville football team rose to number six in the country after a great win over the Boston College Eagles on Saturday. It looks as though the Cards are in great position going into the final three weeks of the 2016 regular season.

There is still a ton that the Louisville football team has to play for this season, which includes the College Football Playoff.

The national media is acting like the Cards need a ton of help to get in, but I don’ think it’s as crazy as they are making it out to be honestly.

Ohio State could very well end up losing to Michigan, which would all but eliminate the Buckeyes. Washington still has two ranked teams in USC and Washington State on their schedule, not to mention they have the Pac-12 Championship game against #15 Utah or #12 Colorado.

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Please tell me ESPN why the Cards don’t have much of a chance making it into the big dance in 2016?

In all honesty, Louisville is in solid position. Yes, they still need some help, but it’s not like they need four or five teams to win or lose. They just need Ohio State and Washington to fall, which is very, very likely to happen.

Other than the Cards, here are the five surprises from the week 11 College Football playoff poll.

Nov 5, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; A general view of the helmet of Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett (16) during the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won the game 62-3. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

5. Ohio State Buckeyes came in at number five

There was a little bit of shock that the Ohio State Buckeyes did not climb into the top four after destroying the number ten Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. I’m not saying that Washington doesn’t deserve to be the fourth team right now, but the way the committee has dealt with that spot, I was surprised the Buckeyes didn’t make it in.

They now have three top 20 wins and one loss to number ten Penn State, which is why there could have been a chance that they could have been in the four over the Huskies. Washington has only beaten Utah, but outside of that, their schedule has been fairly easy.

The goods news for Buckeyes fans is that they still control their own destiny. A monumental game with Michigan awaits, the maybe the conference championship.

However, I believe that Ohio State will lose before the year is over, which will clear some room for Louisville to make a move towards the playoffs.

Nov 5, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Tigers fans remain in the stands following the LSU Tigers 10-0 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

4. LSU Tigers drop to number 24 after one loss to Alabama

I have an extremely hard time trying to figure out why a ten point loss to Alabama would cause a 11 spot drop in the rankings. A break here or there and the Tigers could have come out on top Saturday night. While there still is a major SEC bias within the committee, this ranking did not make very much sense.

Joey Galloway even brought this up on ESPN Tuesday night. It just doesn’t quite add up among how the committee ranked the other teams in the top 25 this week.

It makes one wonder if the committee felt as though they overly mis-ranked the Tigers last Tuesday. I don’t think that they should be rated over #20 USC because the Trojans also have three losses to ranked teams, but they have one win over #12 Colorado.

The Tigers only good win of the 2016 season has been over Ole Miss and we saw how much the Rebels struggled to beat Georgia Southern last Saturday.

Nov 3, 2016; Ames, IA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners defensive end Austin Roberts (95) celebrates with fans after their game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium. Oklahoma beat Iowa State 34 to 24. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

3. Oklahoma didn’t get into the top ten in week 11

The Sooners have lost two games this season, but those of those opponents are very solid football teams in Houston and Ohio State. The Buckeyes are currently #5 in the country, but Houston is still unranked after losing to SMU and Navy. However, the Cougars are still 7-2.

This just confirms the idea that the committee has zero respect for the Big 12 this season, which they shouldn’t, but I think they are better than Penn State or Texas A&M at this point.

Heck, even Auburn is a two loss team that barely squeezed out a win versus Vanderbilt last weekend. Do you remember how much heat the Louisville football team received when they barely beat Duke and Virginia?

I guess that committee has their teams and they are sticking to them.

Nov 5, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. (4) is tackled by Ohio State Buckeyes safety Malik Hooker (24) in the second quarter at Ohio Stadium. Armstrong would be taken from the field directly to a nearby hospital. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

2. Nebraska dropped nine spots from their previous ranking at 10

The Cornhuskers got annihilated by the Ohio State Buckeyes last weekend 62-3. However, they did lose their starting quarterback early in the football game. With that being said, the committee showed no mercy to the Cornhuskers as they are now ranked at number 19.

One would think that losing your starting quarterback would actually hurt your ranking, but that wasn’t the case with Texas A&M. The Aggies are still #8, even after losing to Mississippi State and their starting QB Trevor Knight for the season.

Please tell me why the Aggies didn’t drop as far as the Cornhuskers?

The Aggies have lost to #1 Alabama and unranked Mississippi State, whereas Nebraska has lost to #5 Ohio State and #7 Wisconsin.

Not the best evaluation of the Cornhuskers from the committee in week 11.

Nov 5, 2016; Starkville, MS, USA;Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Nick Fitzgerald (7) carries the ball during the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Davis Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

1. Texas A&M doesn’t fall outside of the top ten after losing to Mississippi State

For the second week in a row, the College Football Playoff committee gave the Texas A&M Aggies football team way to much credit than they deserve. After coming into the first poll ranked at number four, the Aggies lost their first game to unranked Mississippi State and starting QB Trevor Knight for the year.

The SEC bias, or whatever it is, is 100 percent disgusting. This doesn’t even make sense.

They expect me to believe that a two-loss team in week 11, that has one solid win over #25 Arkansas should only drop four spots after losing to one of the worst teams in one of the worst divisions of all of college football?

That’s ludicrous.

The committee needs to get their heads together and figure out why they are in love with a failing footing team.