Despite Complaints, College Football Playoff Committee Gets It Right

One of the best parts of being a college football fan is complaining. Complaining about officiating, complaining about how much harder your favorite team's schedule is than others, and complaining about the rankings.

Often, those complaints are warranted. Associated Press poll voters have generally done an extremely poor job this season, and in previous seasons, in identifying top teams. Both during the season, and importantly, in the preseason polls. Their rankings are then used to advance arguments on strength of schedule, team quality, and "ranked wins," even if they're wildly off base. This year, for example, both the Clemson and LSU Tigers were ranked in the top 10. 

When LSU beat Clemson early on, it was viewed as a monumental victory that moved LSU up to No. 4 in the country. LSU was not the fourth-best team in the country, and a few weeks later, Brian Kelly was out of a job. But the Tigers still provided other SEC teams with an opportunity for a "ranked win" as their season imploded.

That's just one example. And the AP Poll has seen its influence wane over time, thanks to the advent of the College Football Playoff and the committee's poll. But there's one important thing to be thankful for as the 2025 regular season comes to a close: the committee has mostly gotten it right.

Nov 15, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies safety Dalton Brooks (25) reacts after an interception during the second quarter against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

College Football Playoff Poll Is Pretty Darn Good

For all the complaints from Texas A&M Aggies or Miami Hurricanes fans, the latest iteration of the poll once again has done an excellent job of weighing important analytics and data, instead of focusing exclusively on conference patches and head-to-head results. 

While fans have grown accustomed to viewing head-to-head as the ultimate argument between teams, that's an overly simplistic way of evaluating the better team. In the small sample size of a single game, unexpected bounces can change the outcome. For example, the Oklahoma Sooners win over the Alabama Crimson Tide was extremely unusual. Per SP+ postgame win expectancy, essentially a measure of how much success a team's offense and defense had against the opposition, Alabama had a 95 percent probability of winning. They didn't. 

Does that mean Alabama should be ahead of Oklahoma? Not necessarily. But it's an important data point to consider, and the committee putting the Crimson Tide in the top 10 shows they're aware of how fluky that result actually was. 

Similarly, despite a week's worth of complaints about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish being ranked ahead of the Miami Hurricanes, the poll once again ranked the Irish No. 9 and the Hurricanes No. 12. By essentially every measure, Notre Dame's been the better team than Miami over the course of the entire season. And one game shouldn't be enough to overcome that disparity.

In the forward-looking SP+ ranking, the Irish are No. 5, while Miami is No. 11. In Resume SP+, which measures how teams have performed to date, after adjusting for opponent, Notre Dame is No. 7, with Miami at No. 12. Where does Miami rank in the poll? No. 12. 

In fact, Resume SP+ is very close to the College Football Playoff poll overall. While many fans and SEC boosters, like Lane Kiffin, complained about A&M not being No. 1, Resume SP+ has them No. 3. They're No. 3 in this poll too.

This is a great sign for this year's playoff field, and future iterations. Despite a few issues and fan anger, the committee is generally getting it right. Does that mean the complaints will stop? Of course not. That's as much of a tradition in college football as the marching band.