CFP Committee Chair Discusses Ole Miss Moving Up Two Spots in Rankings Despite Bye Week
OXFORD, Miss. — Following the release of the third College Football Playoff Committee rankings Tuesday night, Warde Manuel, Chair of the Committee, and Rich Clark, executive director of the CFP, held a teleconference and took questions from media members.
Mr. Manuel was specifically asked what the considerations were in moving Ole Miss up two spots this week, from No. 11 to No. 9, given that the Rebels had a bye week this past Saturday, following their win the prior Saturday over Georgia.
“Part of it was the loss by BYU and Tennessee that were ahead of them. Part of it was they had a great performance against Georgia. They were really dominant on both sides of the ball…We’ve been impressed with Jaxson Dart. We’ve been impressed with their defense. Two close losses against Kentucky and LSU. We’ve been impressed with them because they performed well and the teams ahead of them have had losses.“
Warde Manuel on Ole Miss
Ole Miss, by virtue of being ranked No. 9 as of this week, holds the 10-seed in the playoff bracket. Based on this week’s rankings, here is what the CFP Bracket would look like:
THE UPDATED CFP BRACKET PROJECTION 🏈 pic.twitter.com/btjbCEx38a
— ESPN (@espn) November 20, 2024
Many of the callers asked questions regarding the importance to the Committee of a team’s strength of schedule. Mr. Manuel replied:
“If it was just about strength of schedule, the rankings would probably look much different. But because we have the evaluation process, because we see how teams are playing and all they can do is play who is in front of them, the committee has to deliberate and make a decision based on what we see and the results of the games. It’s not easy and it’s not something we take lightly.”
Warde Manuel
The complete College Football Playoff Rankings for Nov. 19 are as follows:
- Oregon (11-)
- Ohio State (9-1)
- Texas (9-1)
- Penn State (9-1)
- Indiana (10-0)
- Notre Dame (9-1)
- Alabama (8-2)
- Miami (9-1)
- Ole Miss (8-2)
- Georgia (8-2)
- Tennessee (8-2)
- Boise State (9-1)
- SMU (9-1)
- BYU (9-1)
- A&M (8-2)
- Colorado (8-2)
- Clemson (8-2)
- South Carolina (7-3)
- Army (9-0)
- Tulane (9-2)
- Arizona State (8-2)
- Iowa State (8-2)
- Missouri (7-3)
- UNLV (8-2)
- Illinois (7-3)
Next Up for Ole Miss
The Rebels travel to Florida to take on the Gators this Saturday, November 23. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
