The College Football Playoff Selection Committee has released their postseason ranking of the top teams in college football. Unsurprisingly, they believe Alabama to have the best team in the country. In a switch from last week, Clemson moves up to #2. Ohio State is third, and Washington is fourth. The Washington pick is probably the most controversial pick, considering their non-conference schedule is the second worst, ranked 127^th, in the nation. To their credit, they won their conference and beat four ranked teams in the process.

#4 seed Washington will face Alabama while #4 Washington will take on #3 Ohio State. Complete rankings are listed below.

1              Alabama 2              Clemson 3              Ohio 4              Washington 5              Penn State 6              Michigan 7              Oklahoma 8              Wisconsin 9              Southern Cal 10           Colorado 11           Florida State 12           Oklahoma 13           Louisville

14           Auburn 15           Western Michigan 16           West Virginia 17           Florida 18           Stanford 19           Utah 20           Louisiana 21           Tennessee 22           Virginia Tech 23           Pittsburgh 24           Temple 25           Navy

Oddly, USF is still not included in the rankings. For the first time this season, they are ranking Temple, which is probably because they won the conference championship. It seems like bad math, to rank the two teams that USF lost to and one team, Navy, that USF beat badly, but to not include the Bulls, who have a better record than the majority of the teams ranked.

When USF head coach, Willie Taggart, has been asked about his team’s aggressive scoring at the end of games, this is the sort of thing he was referring to. While it may seem that this ranking is irrelevant beyond the top six spots, which are the only actionable rankings here, this exclusion does matter to a program like USF, which has been trying to prove itself to be nationally relevant. In addition to the intangible effect on things like recruiting and fundraising, it sends a loud message to players, recruits, and coaches, that a 10-2 season at USF, the best in program history, is not enough to be recognized.

The Week 15 AP Poll is listed below.

1              Alabama(61) 2              Ohio State 3              Clemson 4              Washington 5              Penn State 6              Michigan 7              Oklahoma 8              Wisconsin 9              USC 10           Florida State 11           Colorado 12           Western Michigan 13           Oklahoma State

14           West Virginia 15           Louisville 16           Stanford 17           Auburn 18           Virginia Tech 19           LSU 20           Florida 21           Iowa 22           Pittsburgh 23           Temple 24           Nebraska 25           South Florida

Despite not playing this week and one of the two teams that USF lost to becoming ranked, the Bulls drop one spot to 25^th. Navy, who lost to Temple in the AAC championship game, dropped from 20^th to an unofficial 32^nd.

The USA Today Coaches’ Poll for Week 15^th is up next.

1              Alabama(58) 2              Ohio State 3              Clemson 4              Washington 5              Penn State 6              Michigan 7              Oklahoma 8              Wisconsin 9              USC 10           Florida State 11           Colorado 12           West Virginia 13           Oklahoma State

14           Western Michigan 15           Louisville 16           Stanford 17           Auburn 18           Florida 19           Virginia Tech 20           LSU 21           Nebraska 22           South Florida 23           Utah 24           Temple 25           Iowa

USF actually moves up one spot in the Coaches’ Poll, to 22^nd. Temple has replaced Navy in this poll, but remains lower than USF at 24^th.

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