Brett Yormark calls out College Football Playoff committee, Boise State's ranking
Finally, the Big 12 commissioner is speaking out against the ridiculously biased College Football Playoff Rankings.
Heading into conference championship weekend, the top two teams in the Big 12 — Arizona State (10-2) and Iowa State (10-2) — are ranked No. 15 and No. 16 in the latest CFP Rankings. Ranked ahead of them are three 3-loss SEC teams, a Miami team that did not qualify for its conference championship game and a Boise State team that struggled to beat 3-9 Wyoming two weeks ago.
"The [selection] committee continues to show time and time again that they are paying attention to logos versus résumés," Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Wednesday on a conference call.
"Strength of schedule should matter and wins against Power 4 opponents should matter — 74% of the Big 12 wins were against Power 4 opponents this season. Meanwhile, the Group of 5 is 11-80. ... In no way should a Group of 5 champion be ranked above our champion."
But that is currently the case. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Boise State ranks No. 86 in the nation in strength of schedule — one spot behind Oregon State (5-7) and one spot ahead of Ball State (3-9).
Arizona State ranks No. 72 and Iowa State ranks No. 68. As a point of comparison, the Sun Devils beat Wyoming 48-7 earlier this season in a game that was over at halftime. The Sun Devils put up 499 yards of offense to just 118 for Wyoming. In Boise State's 17-13 win over Wyoming, the Broncos barely outgained the Cowboys, 352 to 319, and needed a late touchdown to avoid a huge upset.
"Obviously I challenge what I've seen to date, and again I'm going to lean on strength of schedule. I don't think it's played out the way it should," Yormark said. "But I do have trust in the committee that ultimately we'll land where we're supposed to land. And, you know, that ultimately will mean we'll get a bye. ... It will come down to the selection committee making that decision, but I'm hopeful it will be the right one."
The five highest-ranked conference champions in the CFP selection committee's final rankings are guaranteed playoff spots, with the top four receiving first-round byes. If the season ended today, No. 1 Oregon (projected Big Ten champion), No. 2 Texas (projected SEC champion), No. 8 SMU (projected ACC champion) and No. 10 Boise State (projected Mountain West champion) would receive first-round byes. No. 15 Arizona State (projected Big 12 champion) would be the final team in the field and would face the No. 5 seed in the first round.
We'll see how it all plays out soon enough. Boise State hosts No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West Conference championship game on Friday at 6 p.m. MST, and Arizona State and Iowa State square off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. MST in the Big 12 title game.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.