College Football Playoff Chair says Clemson ahead of Michigan because of schedule

Clemson sits at No. 4 in the intitial CFP ranking.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Nov 01 20:53:57 GMT-04:00 2022

College Football Playoff Committee Chairman Boo Corrigan said Clemson’s overall resume allowed the Tigers to push ahead of Michigan in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

Tennessee was atop the rankings, followed by Ohio State, Georgia and Clemson in the top four of the inaugural 2022 rankings released on Tuesday. Tennessee (8-0) is in the top spot because it has two wins over teams ranked in the top 10.

There are currently six teams at 8-0 in the rankings and they occupy six of the top seven spots. And there will be no more than five undefeated teams after Week 10. Tennessee travels to Georgia on Saturday.

Michigan is just outside the top four at No. 5 while TCU was at No. 7 behind one-loss Alabama.

The ACC’s five teams in the first set of rankings are the most of any conference. Outside of Clemson at No. 4, the conference has North Carolina at No. 17, Syracuse at No. 20, Wake Forest at No. 21 and NC State at No. 22.

Clemson has defeated three of those four schools.

“I think the collective of the group is what it really is. It's not about reading the room or anything else, but as we go through it and as we talked about certainly the wins at Wake, at Florida State, over NC State, over Syracuse, really did push them over the top,” Corrigan said of the Tigers. “But again, there's 240 plus games still to be played this year, and there's a lot of really good football in front of us.”

Corrigan said that Clemson beats out Michigan because the Tigers have played against more opponents with winning records.

“I think as you look at being 5-0 against teams that are over .500, Michigan is 2-0 against opponents that are over .500, that clearly is going to factor in a win at Wake Forest, a win at Florida State,” Corrigan said. “As we're going through it, Michigan's signature win being the Penn State game.

“But again, all we can do is base it on where we are at this point in time.”

However, the Tigers aren’t that far ahead of the Wolverines.

“Well, I think they're right there. In a larger picture, the signature win against Penn State, a well-balanced team,” Corrigan said. “But at the end of it, when you look at that strength of schedule, it is something that we do talk about as one of the principles that guides us. At this point in time, again, after week 9, we felt they were right in the No. 5 position.”