CFP Chairman Mullens on why Ohio State vaulted over LSU in rankings

Following are excerpts from the conference call held by College Football Playoff committee chairman Rob Mullens following Tuesday night’s announcement that Ohio State has jumped LSU into the No. 1 spot in the CFP rankings.

ROB MULLENS: Here’s what the committee was thinking: Ohio State has been a complete team all year, and their win against Penn State impressed the committee. They are ranked No. 1. 11-0 LSU with three wins against top 25 teams is ranked No. 2. 11-0 Clemson has been solid with an impressive series of convincing wins. Georgia also is strong with three wins against top-25 teams. They are ranked No. 4.
We spent considerable time talking about all the teams and all the rankings, but it’s fair to say there are a lot of two-loss teams, and we talked long and hard about how they should be ranked. We considered their play on the field, head-to-head results, strength of schedule, and we compared common opponents. I’m proud of this committee and how seriously everyone takes his or her work in ranking 1 through 25.
Q. You mentioned a couple times now about the idea of the complete team that the committee sees Ohio State being. In what way is the committee sort of quantifying that? What is telling this committee that Ohio State is a more complete team than anyone else?
MULLENS: Competing consistently and really highly ranked on offense and defense, performing at a high level in both.
Q. Do you guys correct that for strength of schedule, too? Is it relative to who they played? How are you guys measuring that?
MULLENS: Sure, we see it all. We see the full resume, and there are relative statistics, as well.
Q. Just to follow up on that, what was the difference, though, this week about Ohio State that put them over LSU because you have said that they’ve been a complete team all season.
MULLENS: They have, but they added their third win against a ranked opponent over Penn State, who we have ranked No. 10.
Q. LSU has beaten your No. 5, 11, and 15 teams, No. 5 on the road. Ohio State beat 10, 12 and 19 inyour ranking at home. LSU has got a strength of schedule 10 points higher than Ohio State’s. In the end does the committee see those differences as negligible in terms of ranking the teams?
MULLENS: Yeah, those are — we would obviously value LSU’s three wins over top-15 teams and Ohio State’s wins over three top-19 teams.
Q. So they’re pretty much fairly even?
MULLENS: Yeah, those are all really impressive wins to the committee, and they each have three.
Q. LSU played a team that’s now 6-5 and had a home game against Northwestern State, while Ohio State’s non-conference opponents are all in the FBS. Does that almost count as a non-game for LSU, having played Northwestern State?
MULLENS: No, I mean, we recognize that it’s an FCS game. It’s highlighted as an FCS game, and we understand what that is.
Q. When it comes to LSU and Ohio State, I’m wondering how much of a decider is Ohio State’s defense in raising Ohio State to No. 1?
MULLENS: That’s a key piece. I mean, they’re a balanced team, strong on offense and defense. Obviously LSU has a very strong offense. But to date their defense isn’t quite as strong as Ohio State’s.

College Football Playoff Rankings
Nov. 26, 2019

Rank, Logo, Record
1, Ohio State, 11-0
2, LSU, 11-0
3, Clemson, 11-0
4, Georgia, 10-1
5, Alabama, 10-1
6, Utah, 10-1
7, Oklahoma, 10-1
8, Minnesota, 10-1
9, Baylor, 10-1
10, Penn State, 9-2
11, Florida, 9-2
12, Wisconsin, 9-2
13, Michigan, 9-2
14, Oregon, 9-2
15, Auburn, 8-3
16, Notre Dame, 9-2
17, Iowa, 8-3
18, Memphis, 10-1
19, Cincinnati, 10-1
20, Boise State, 10-1
21, Oklahoma State, 8-3
22, Southern California, 8-4
23, Iowa State, 7-4
24, Virginia Tech, 8-3
25, Appalachian State, 10-1

AP Top 25

Rank, Team (Record), Points, Previous
1, LSU (11-0), 1,537, 1
2, Ohio State (11-0), 1,486, 2
3, Clemson (11-0), 1,440, 3
4, Georgia (10-1), 1,347, 4
5, Alabama (10-1), 1,283, 5
6, Utah (10-1), 1,231, 7
7, Oklahoma (10-1), 1,189, 8
8, Florida (9-2), 1,058, 10
9, Minnesota (10-1), 996, 11
10, Michigan (9-2), 913, 12
11, Baylor (10-1), 910, 13
12, Penn State (9-2), 903, 9
13, Wisconsin (9-2), 791, 14
14, Oregon (9-2), 784, 6
15, Notre Dame (9-2), 701, 15
16, Auburn (8-3), 635, 16
17, Memphis (10-1), 535, 18
18, Cincinnati (10-1), 518, 17
19, Iowa (8-3), 510, 19
20, Boise State (10-1), 410, 20
21, Oklahoma State (8-3), 266, 22
22, Appalachian State (10-1), 206, 23
23, Virginia Tech (8-3), 147, 25
24, Navy (8-2), 99, NR
25, USC (8-4), 79, NR

Others receiving votes:
Iowa State 74, Virginia 38, Texas A&M 27, Air Force 22, SMU 9, Arizona State 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 1

Amway Coaches Poll

1, LSU (52), 11-0, 1561, 1
2, Ohio State (7), 11-0, 1510, 2
3, Clemson (4), 11-0, 1464, 3
4, Georgia, 10-1, 1351, 4
5, Alabama, 10-1, 1325, 5
6, Utah, 10-1, 1252, 8
7, Oklahoma, 10-1, 1223, 7
8, Florida, 9-2, 1074, 10
9, Minnesota, 10-1, 1014, 11
10, Baylor, 10-1, 924, 13
11, Michigan, 9-2, 893, 12
12, Penn State, 9-2, 857, 9
13, Oregon, 9-2, 816, 6
14, Wisconsin, 9-2, 799, 14
15, Notre Dame, 9-2, 737, 15
16, Auburn, 8-3, 652, 16
17, Cincinnati, 10-1, 535, 17
18, Memphis, 10-1, 528, 18
19, Boise State, 10-1, 493, 19
20, Iowa, 8-3, 434, 20
21, Oklahoma State, 8-3, 256, 23
22, Appalachian State, 10-1, 232, 22
23, Virginia Tech, 8-3, 123, NR
24, Navy, 8-2, 110, NR
25, USC, 8-4, 75, NR

Dropped Out
No. 21 Southern Methodist; No. 24 Texas A&M; No. 25 San Diego State.

Others Receiving Votes
Air Force 74; Iowa State 55; Virginia 32; Texas A&M 26; UL Lafayette 18; Southern Methodist 18; Wake Forest 5; San Diego State 4; Indiana 2; Hawaii 2; Temple 1.

The Amway Board of Coaches is made up of 65 head coaches at Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2019 season: Chris Ash, Rutgers; Dino Babers, Syracuse; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Jeff Brohm, Purdue; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Steve Campbell, South Alabama; Rod Carey, Temple; Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, Florida International; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Manny Diaz, Miami (Fla.); Dana Dimel, Texas-El Paso; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Sonny Dykes, Southern Methodist; Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern; James Franklin, Penn State; Hugh Freeze, Liberty; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Scott Frost, Nebraska; Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Tom Herman, Texas; Doc Holliday, Marshall; Jay Hopson, Southern Mississippi; Mike Houston, East Carolina; Mike Leach, Washington State; Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Chip Lindsey, Troy; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern; Gus Malzahn, Auburn; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Jeff Monken, Army; Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa; Dan Mullen, Florida; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Ed Orgeron, LSU; Gary Patterson, TCU; Chris Petersen, Washington; Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee; Matt Rhule, Baylor; Nick Saban, Alabama; Tony Sanchez, UNLV; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Jonathan Smith, Oregon State; Frank Solich, Ohio; Jake Spavital, Texas State; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Kevin Sumlin, Arizona; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; Jeff Tedford, Fresno State; Matt Wells, Texas Tech; Kyle Whittingham, Utah.