College Football Playoff resume rankings: Why Alabama is still No. 1 after loss to Georgia
With four top-65 victories, including two top-15 road wins, the Crimson Tide's body of work remains ironclad
• 3 min read
If the College Football Playoff Selection Committee ends up evaluating Alabama and Georgia side-by-side during the selection process, it will surely use Georgia's head-to-head Week 6 road win over the Crimson Tide as a major data point. Look no further than the Miami-Notre Dame precedent that was solidified last year.
Head-to-head matters to the committee, as it should. But entering Week 7, there's still a data-backed case that 5-1 Alabama has a slightly better body of work than 6-0 Georgia. The Bulldogs now have two victories against top-65 opposition, while Alabama has four, including two top-15 road wins to Georgia's one.
That doesn't mean the committee would or should rank Alabama ahead of Georgia if they wind up close to each other when debating the first batch of rankings that will be released Nov. 3. But it underscores why a team's "resume" shouldn't be reduced exclusively to a record or 1-2 marquee results.
The Crimson Tide's resume score actually improved by 0.21 this week, even after a loss. How could that be? First off, losing to the No. 1 team (Georgia) carries only a minor penalty in our meritocratic resume ranking system, which is based on where your opponents rank in the CBS Sports 138.
CBS Sports 138: Georgia takes top spot over Miami, Notre Dame in college football rankings
Chip Patterson
Because Kentucky rose 12 spots in the CBS Sports 138 for beating LSU, Alabama's Week 2 win at UK is now more valuable. The same goes for Alabama's home win over South Carolina. The Gamecocks jumped up 13 spots this week after crushing Florida, which makes Alabama's victory over the Gamecocks better. A Week 5 win at Mississippi State also improved in value for the Crimson Tide after the Bulldogs from Starkville rose four spots in the CBS Sports 138.
Even Alabama's "patsy" isn't a total nothing-burger, as East Carolina is now 3-2 up to No. 81 in the CBS Sports 138.
By contrast, Georgia has an FCS win (Tennessee State) and a sub-100 victory against Western Kentucky. While Georgia's win over Oklahoma is improving in value, its victories over Arkansas and Vanderbilt are declining in value as those two solidify their status as SEC cellar dwellers.
Here's where things stand in a meritocratic resume ranking entering Week 7. Values are assigned based on the likelihood that the "average" No. 25 ranked team would win the game. Alabama receives only a 0.08 penalty for losing to Georgia, since the average No. 25 team would lose at home to the No. 1-ranked team roughly 92% of the time.
College Football Playoff Resume Rankings
| 1 |  |
Resume score: 1.80 | |
| 2 |  |
Resume score: 1.49 | |
| 3 |  |
Resume score: 1.27 | |
| 4 |  |
Resume score: 1.25 | |
| 5 |  |
Resume score: 1.22 | |
| 6 |  |
Resume score: 1.11 | |
| 7 |  |
Resume score: 1.10 | |
| 8 |  |
Resume score: 1.02 | |
| 9 |  |
Resume score: 0.94 | |
| 10 |  |
Resume score: 0.92 | |
| 11 |  |
Resume score: 0.87 | |
| 12 |  |
Resume score: 0.76 | |
| 13 |  |
Resume score: 0.69 | |
| 14 |  |
Resume score: 0.65 | |
| 15 |  |
Resume score: 0.58 | |
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