Who could be the biggest winners and losers from the final College Football Playoff rankings in Week 15?
It seems like just yesterday that we were clamoring for the start of the 2016 campaign, but now we are looking at the final release of the College Football Playoff rankings. Pretty soon, college football fans will be consumed with bowl season, and that’s not exactly the worst thing in the world.
Some fans of major programs are already looking forward to 2017, though. Teams like Oregon, Michigan State, Texas and Notre Dame will all be sitting at home, watching this year’s bowl games. That’s rare for those usually elite programs to miss out on the postseason festivities, but that’s the type of year it’s been.
Championship week didn’t have many upsets. Actually, it was void of shocking finishes as Alabama took care of Florida in the SEC title, Penn State won a close one against Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship, Clemson held on to the ACC crown and Washington and Oklahoma won the Pac-12 and Big 12, respectively.
Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from the final College Football Playoff rankings release of the regular season. Championship week had a major effect on this week’s rankings.
Loser: Wisconsin Badgers (No. 6 down to No. 8 )
With a 28-7 lead in the Big Ten Championship, there was talk about whether the Wisconsin Badgers would jump Michigan and even Washington for that No. 4 spot in the playoff rankings.
Maybe the Badgers were looking ahead just a little too much or maybe Penn State was just that strong. The Badgers blew that three-touchdown lead and James Franklin’s Nittany Lions took home a Big Ten title for the first time since the division in the conference were created in 2011.
Paul Chryst had a heck of a season and his team exceeded expectations if you look at the type of quarterbacks the Badgers had to work with. The Big Ten Coach of the Year will be back to likely lead the 2017 Big Ten West favorites back to the championship game.
Unfortunately, the playoff wasn’t in the cards for this team in 2016.