Everything the College Football Playoff committee said about Ohio State after 2nd rankings

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If you are a college football fan, you have to love this time of year, maybe more so now that we have a 12-team College Football Playoff. With so many teams still in the mix, there are so many meaningful games, scenarios, and debates that are taking off.

And each week from here until early December, when the league championship games finish up, those conversations take on more fervor as we get a look at the latest College Football Playoff rankings. We just got a look at the latest release of those CFP rankings, the second of the season.

Ohio State might be No. 1 right now and relatively free of drama, but that could change in a hurry any week. This team doesn’t look like it’ll have a letdown, but you just never know. Even if not, there are still plenty of things surrounding the Buckeyes from other fanbases and teams that like to hate on the defending national champions. Fans of teams like Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia all like to pound their chests from the SEC mountain.

One thing we love about the process is how transparent the College Football Playoff committee tries to be. Not only do they make committee chair Mack Rhoades available for a quick conversation on ESPN after the reveal, but he also jumps on a call with the media to field questions. We are a part of those, and we like to bring you everything that’s said on those conference calls, especially the comments that surround Ohio State.

Here’s everything the CFP committee said about Ohio State after the second edition of the 2025 College Football Playoff rankings.

Opening remarks by CFP Committee Senior Director of Communications Brett Daniels

BRETT DANIELS: I’d like to welcome everyone to the second College Football Playoff Selection Committee teleconference for the 2025 season. Joining us tonight is Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, along with Mack Rhoades, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee chair.

On Michigan’s path to the College Football Playoff if it can beat Ohio State

Q. I just wanted to ask, for a team like Michigan who it appears they have a couple of teams to go through in order to make it to the playoffs, how much would a win over Ohio State at the end of the year impact those chances?

MACK RHOADES: Yeah, so really hard for the committee to predict. We don’t predict. Certainly if Ohio State were to hold serve and be at that No. 1 spot and Michigan were to be able to beat them, that would be great discussion and conversation within the room in terms of how far they would move up.

If any discussions surround which teams would win vs. each other on a neutral field

Q. I just wanted to know, is there ever a conversation that starts with the question or premise, on a neutral field, I think this team is better? Do you do any of this at all?

MACK RHOADES: There isn’t. That’s certainly not part of our protocol. We try not to predict.

We talk about in terms of the tape that we watch and games that they played, like man, Georgia looked really good on film against Mississippi State, and they did X, Y and Z. But that’s how we talk about teams when we look at them and we think about the eye test.

But we do not get into trying to predict who would win in a particular match-up on a neutral field.

On penalizing teams that lose conference championship games

Q. Regarding conference championship game losers, how much can losing a championship game hurt a team in the rankings, and can it be beneficial for a team to miss out on their championship game? Just curious how the committee views that.

MACK RHOADES: Yeah, for the committee, we look at it as a positive if you’re playing in the championship game. It’s another datapoint. It’s certainly recognized when we think about record strength. Obviously you win it, that’s a plus. If you lose it, theoretically it’s not supposed to hurt you.

Could it hurt you? If it was a game where it wasn’t competitive and you completely got blown away, then that would be a conversation, candidly, in the room amongst the committee.

On whether metrics should lead to Texas A&M being No. 1 over Ohio State and Indiana

Q. When you look at the metrics, across the board it seems like Texas A&M has the higher strength of schedule and strength of record. Is there something separating Indiana and Ohio State where the metrics wouldn’t come in and put A&M over the top?

MACK RHOADES: Again, when we look at schedule strength and record strength, because you mentioned those two, again, just two of the metrics, those teams are very, very close. I mean, extremely, extremely close. When we look at those two, again, defensively, Indiana, we give them the edge over A&M. We give Indiana certainly the edge — offensively they’re the top scoring offense in the country. Their defense is ranked second.

Again, those are two teams, as I mentioned, the longest discussion, Texas Tech, Ole Miss. The second longest discussion was Indiana and Texas A&M.

You asked about Ohio State and Indiana. Again, the committee, really clear consensus in the room. Ohio State, the No. 1 team in the country. Felt like the most complete team. Really good defensively, particularly up front. Offensively, again, really good. Their offensive line play is outstanding. They have the great playmakers in Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. The quarterback Sayin right now leads the country in passing efficiency and completion percentage.

Those are all reasons why Ohio State, again, clear consensus for the committee for them to remain at No. 1.

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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Second CFP rankings: What the committee said about Ohio State

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