College Football Playoff Rankings: Florida gets love, making big bowl a possibility

By Adam Silverstein
November 13, 2018
College Football Playoff Rankings: Florida gets love, making big bowl a possibility
Football

Image Credit: GatorsFB / Twitter

The third edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings were released on Tuesday night, and the Florida Gators found themselves getting all kinds of love from the CFP Selection Committee. Not only is Florida still rated in the top 15, it moved up in the rankings after coming from 17 points down to beat South Carolina last Saturday.

The Gators moved up two spots to No. 13 in the new CFP Rankings. They are the fourth SEC team in the field and ahead of Kentucky, which fell to Tennessee on Saturday but beat Florida earlier in the year. (The committee values head-to-head wins heavily when making its rankings, which makes this either a huge vote of confidence of UF or a total lack of belief in UK.)

There’s no questioning the Gators’ resume. Aside from the shocking Missouri loss, which is not to be forgotten but apparently can be forgiven by the committee, Florida’s losses this season are to No. 5 Georgia (a team the committee holds in high regard) and No. 17 Kentucky. It also has wins over No. 7 LSU and No. 21 Mississippi State. That’s not a resume to sneeze at.

In addition to bragging rights, the Gators being ranked four spots higher than the Wildcats is important for the bowl selection process, particularly if it can slip into the top 12 by the time the regular season concludes. And with Idaho and Florida State on the schedule — games in which Florida will be favored — it should at least be expected to win out and maintain its edge over Kentucky.

The so-called New Year’s Six consists of the four playoff teams and eight additional selections. Automatically qualifying for those eight spots would be all Power Five conference champions and Notre Dame — if ranked in the top 12 and not in the playoff — along with the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the CFP Rankings (right now, that is UCF). Remaining spots are chosen as at-large bids by the committee, almost assuredly from the top 12 of its rankings.

With so many ranked teams ahead of the Gators slated to play each other and face other tough games, Florida winning out may be enough for it to slide into a major bowl game just one year after missing the bowls completely.

Let’s take a look at the latest top 25 polls from this week.

College Football Playoff Rankings, Nov. 13

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan

5. Georgia
6. Oklahoma

7. LSU
8. Washington State
9. West Virginia
10. Ohio State
11. UCF
12. Syracuse
13. Florida
14. Penn State
15. Texas
16. Iowa State
17. Kentucky
18. Washington
19. Utah
20. Boston College
21. Mississippi State
22. Northwestern
23. Utah State
24. Cincinnati
25. Boise State

AP Top 25, Week 12

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan
5. Georgia
6. Oklahoma
7. West Virginia
8. Washington State
9. Ohio State
10. LSU
11. UCF
12. Syracuse
13. Texas
14. Utah State
15. Florida
16. Penn State
17. Washington
18. Iowa State
19. Cincinnati
20. Kentucky
21. Utah
22. Boston College
23. Boise State
24. Northwestern
25. Mississippi State

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