The rest of college sports is copying the College Football Playoff's most maddening and addicting feature
The most groan-inducing yet maddeningly addictive aspect of the College Football Playoff is undoubtedly the weekly rankings. There's nothing more Peak College Football than releasing a set of rankings that every coach and administrator involved will have to react to... yet everyone involved agrees mean absolutely nothing until Selection Sunday.
Yet, when Tuesday night rolls around, viewers can't not tune in. While we don't know the ratings for this season's first rankings roll out, past seasons have averaged a million viewers a week.
That success has created copycats.
The NCAA women's basketball selection committee released a series of in-season rankings last year and will continue again this season. "The committee felt that the top-10 announcements were very successful last year in raising awareness and creating conversation around the game," selection committee chair Terry Gawlir said.
The lacrosse selection committee did the same in 2015. The men's selection committee is considering jumping in the fray, mirroring the women by periodically updating its top-16 seeds ahead of Selection Sunday.
And now, for the first time, the FCS selection committee has mirrored its FBS counterpart by unveiling its top 10 teams earlier this week.
For the curious:
- Jacksonville State
- Sam Houston State
- Eastern Washington
- North Dakota State
- James Madison
- The Citadel
- Richmond
- Chattanooga
- Charleston Southern
- Central Arkansas
Like the CFP, the FCS committee's opinions differed from the polls; the committee is higher on Jacksonville State, The Citadel and Central Arkansas than the pollsters.
The FCS committee will release two more rankings ahead of its Nov. 20 Selection Sunday.
So if you're one that doesn't like seeing college sports' justices evaluating cases while they're still being argued, buckle up, because this phenomenon isn't going away.
