RJ Young: CFP committee doesn't care about the results of football games

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

The College Football Playoff selection committee doesn’t care about winning football games. That’s what the Week 11 CFP rankings demonstrated once again.

Last week, the committee didn’t rank undefeated Texas-San Antonio (9-0). This week, after a resounding victory over Texas-El Paso, the best the committee could do for UTSA, one of just four undefeated teams among the 130 that play FBS football, is rank the Roadrunners No. 23.

In fact, just one of the four undefeated teams — juggernaut and No. 1-ranked Georgia (9-0) — would play in a CFP semifinal if the games were held tomorrow. 

How about 9-0 Cincinnati? Take a hike, the committee says. Your unbeaten record doesn't make you as good as No. 2 Alabama (8-1), No. 3 Oregon (8-1) and No. 4 Ohio State (8-1), which all have sustained a loss this season.

In a sport in which teams play just 12 games each season, winning and losing ought to matter. But it doesn't matter to the committee, not even when two teams have played head-to-head.

That’s the takeaway from this Week 11 ranking. Michigan State (8-1) beating Michigan (8-1) 37-33 just two weeks ago matters not at all to the committee, which ranked No. 6 Michigan ahead of No. 7 Michigan State.

This means the CFP committee threw out its own protocol, which states that head-to-head results matter in its rankings. Well, it appears that’s not true.

"The Michigan-Michigan State discussion really started last week," CFP chairman Gary Barta said, "and I would just kind of summarize that the committee went back and forth, and the real consensus was that Michigan probably is a more complete team. Statistically, offensively, defensively, they're ranked higher than Michigan State in just about every category.

"That being said, the committee gave great credence to the Michigan State win head-to-head against Michigan. That discussion went back and forth last week. This week, the same discussion goes on. What's changed? Michigan won, and Michigan State lost. So for this week, we slotted Michigan State at 7. As we come back next week, each of those discussions will happen again, and we'll have another data point to look at."

How’s that for word salad?

No, head-to-head doesn’t really matter to the committee. And neither does winning and losing. 

In claiming to pick the four best teams to play in their Power 5 Invitational, the committee is mocking the sport and turning games that matter to the 12,000-plus players who play FBS football into glorified spring games, exhibitions for the hundreds of thousands who traverse from their homes to their home stadiums six times a year.

The committee is telling players, parents, coaches and staff that the work they put into the offseason, into practice, into games doesn’t matter. Recruiting rankings, branding and conferences matter.

If that’s the case, why play football? Why act as if the outcome of a football game influences who gets the chance to play for a national title?

There are those who side with the committee, of course. There are those fans who believe that losing to a good football team is more difficult than beating a mediocre one.

But by definition, those fans are not only rooting for losers — making excuses for losers — but also enabling unfairness in the sport, stunting its growth and refusing to stand for justice in an unjust playoff process. A lot of folks who love to crow about winning national titles are making excuses for losers.

The College Football Playoff, like the Heisman Trophy, is a pageant contest. Fine. At least have the honor to say so openly and without reservation, as you tell the players that their efforts don’t matter.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.