PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 05: Broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit speaks onstage during the "BCS Title Game" panel at the ESPN portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 5, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)The new College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled tonight. One week from today, the four-team field will be selected.
Right now, it looks like three teams have spots locked in. LSU is in, win or loss on Saturday, and as long as Ohio State and Clemson take care of business, they will be in as well.
If Georgia beats LSU, they will be the fourth team in. But what happens if the Tigers win? Who gets the last spot?
On his weekly podcast, Kirk Herbstreit broke down the potential debate between Oklahoma and Utah for the No. 4 position. Right now, the Utes are ranked ahead of the Sooners, but we’ll see if that changes.
“If Utah wins on Friday night–I feel like there’s a consensus in the social media world that Utah has a back seat to Oklahoma,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t know if people have been watching the rankings, but the playoff committee has liked Utah more than Oklahoma every time they release their rankings.”
Listening to Herbstreit’s analysis, he seems to favor giving the Utes the final playoff nod over OU, calling them “more consistent” than what he’s seen from Oklahoma down the stretch.
“Why is it just an assumption that Oklahoma is a superior team to Utah while Utah has been going out with arguably the best defense in the country? Definitely the best defense out West,” Herbstreit said. “Look what they’ve done in recent weeks since they lost to USC. …I think it’s Utah [in the playoff] if they win Friday night. I think Utah is sitting there hoping that LSU beats Georgia, and I think pole position would be Utah to go into that four spot. If you’re an Oklahoma fan, you want Oregon to knock off Utah on Friday night.”
Utah and Oregon will kick off at 8 p.m. ET Friday on ABC. Oklahoma and Baylor get underway at noon ET Saturday on ABC.
