The first College Football Playoff rankings came out Tuesday, and not without plenty of controversy.
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Texas A&M's No. 4 ranking, ahead of undefeated Washington at No. 5, left a sour taste across the country, and it especially struck a chord with ESPN's Trevor Matich.
Matich argued that No. 1 Alabama wasn't held to the same standard as Washington, as the Huskies' standing outside of the top five came due to quality wins. So why wasn't Clemson's three quality wins (against No. 9 Auburn, No. 22 Florida State and No. 7 Louisville) taken into account versus Alabama's one quality win (against No. 4 Texas A&M)?
Here's what he said, per SEC Country:
"But they didn't do the same thing for Clemson and Alabama," Matich said. "Alabama only has one win over a team that's currently ranked. That's against No. 4, A&M. Clemson has three wins over teams that are currently ranked, including two in the top 10. And yet, Alabama is ranked ahead of Clemson. So what they did for A&M, they did not do for Clemson."
The difference between A&M (7-1) and Washington (8-0) came down to an Aggies win over No. 9 Auburn and a Huskies victory over No. 16 Utah. Despite the lack of clarity on the situation, Matich added he still has the Tide over Clemson, but was simply questioning the committee's judgement:
Bama is my #1. Point was committee gave TAMU credit over WA for more quality wins, but didn't do same for Clemson.
— Trevor Matich (@TMatich) November 3, 2016
Alabama travels to play No. 13 LSU in a potentially pitfall game Saturday night, while Clemson hosts Syracuse and Michigan plays host to Maryland over the weekend.
As for the fringe teams, Texas A&M will hit the road to play Mississippi State, while Washington travels to play Cal.
