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CFP Selection Committee Chair reveals reasoning for Texas A&M's 3-seed
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- CFP Selection Committee Chair reveals reasoning for Texas A&M's 3-seed
On Tuesday night, the first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings was released, as undefeated Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0 SEC) was positioned as the 3-seed, matching the Aggies' US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 ranking this week, which, to most of the Aggie fan base and media members who watched the reveal, was not surprising.
1-seed Ohio State and 2-seed Indiana, both 8-0, are considered slightly better teams based on their recent performances. Still, just moments after the reveal, CFP Selection Committee Chair Mack Rhoades made one of the more revealing statements regarding his reasoning for placing the Aggies below Ohio State and Indiana, focused on Texas A&M's defense, which currently ranks 31st overall.
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Rhoades, who clearly favored Ohio State as the No. 1-overall seed and the most complete team in the country, likely feels that Texas A&M's 45-42 win over Arkansas in Week 8 was the reason the Aggies did not deserve the 1 or 2 seed, which is somewhat wild given the recent elite performances over every other SEC matchup, including their recent 49-25 road win over LSU.
"We had robust discussions about Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M. We felt like Ohio State and Indiana were close, when you look at the statistical data. We felt Ohio State was a little bit better on the offensive line and defensively. When we included A&M as part of the discussion, we felt like the separator there was the defense."
If we're basing this on statistics, Gigem247 beat writer Carter Karels provided a quick rundown via X, and if I had to guess, these were the numbers the committee used to rank the teams. All this does is provide head coach Mike Elko and his defense with bulletin board material before facing Missouri.
Here's how Texas A&M, Ohio State and Indiana compare in key statistical categories defensively:
A&M: 60th in scoring D, 31st in total D, 33rd in run D, 59th in pass-efficiency D, 1st in sacks, 3rd in TFLs, 1st in third-down D.
Ohio State: 1st in scoring D, 1st in total D, 7th in run D, 7th in pass-efficiency D, 10th in sacks, 26th in TFLs, 4th in third-down D.
Indiana: 3rd in scoring D, 7th in total D, 4th in run D, 8th in pass-efficiency D, 8th in sacks, 2nd in TFLs, 2nd in third-down D.
These are numbers without context, and Texas A&M's Week 3 road win over Notre Dame is still the best win of the year outside of Indiana stealing a win in Eugene against a 9-seed Oregon. Right now, all the Aggies can do is play elite defense to squash the narrative, and, combined with an already consistent offense, this should result in an 11-1 or 12-0 finish.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: CFP Chair Mack Rhoades reveals reasoning for Texas A&M's 3-seed
