While you were busy trick-or-treating watching the Dodgers win reading TNIAAM on Tuesday night, ESPN was releasing the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
Bad news: the Syracuse Orange didn’t make it. But you probably figured that.
Good news: four Syracuse opponents did find themselves in the first top 25 rankings, and even better, all four are already behind us.
First Rankings: Top 2️⃣5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/2nefOfDhyV
— CFBPlayoff (@CFBPlayoff) October 31, 2017
The Clemson Tigers start at No. 4, Miami’s at 10, LSU starts 19th and NC State is 20th.
As a reminder, Syracuse beat the Tigers already and lost by single-digits to the other three (all on the road).
Needless to say, some college football fans were very confused to see the Tigers all the way up at No. 4 given the loss to the 4-4 Orange. That’s fair, though perhaps the committee sees us pretty favorably? Some of the more notable reactions:
Clemson lost to Syracuse https://t.co/8SLP93TIpV
— Sports Nation Ohio (@SN_Ohio) October 31, 2017
Someone please explain to me how Clemson is ranked above us.. we lost @ osu to a top five team.. they lost to an unranked Syracuse
— Maggie Lucas (@MaggieLucas33) October 31, 2017
Can't imagine how many times it was said in #CFP room: "Remember, Clemson didn't have Kelly Bryant most of that Syracuse game." It mattered.
— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) October 31, 2017
Committee favorable to Clemson loss w/o Bryant vs Syracuse. Then why penalize Bama for a “weak” win against a full strength FSU? #CFBPlayoff
— Jordan Rodgers (@JRodgers11) October 31, 2017
On the one hand, I have to agree. Clemson’s loss to Syracuse is probably worse than a loss to Oklahoma (Ohio State), Ohio State (Penn State), or Iowa State (Oklahoma). But Clemson does have wins over Auburn (No. 14) and Virginia Tech (No. 13).
The notion that they only lost to Syracuse because they were without their quarterback in the second half is wrong, however. The Orange were winning at halftime while Kelly Bryant was still playing. And if they’re really the program everyone assumes, their backup should still be able to beat SU (and yet, did not).
But what do you think? Is Clemson overrated here? Are they discounting the Orange win over the Tigers too much just because of one half without Bryant? Share your own thoughts below.