CFP Committee Chairman Warde Manuel Says Ohio State Earns No. 2 Ranking By Being “More Consistent” Than Georgia

With the first batch of College Football Playoff rankings released by the selection committee on Tuesday, the Buckeyes landed at No. 2, one spot ahead of No. 3 the Bulldogs. And while not every game has been perfect for Ohio State, difficulties on the offensive end that Georgia is still sorting through give the Scarlet and Gray an early leg up in November.

"Both are solid teams, as you know," Manuel said on a teleconference after the rankings release. "Ohio State's one loss on the road was against the number one team. And they lost by one. They had an impressive win this past weekend at Penn State. And they have been very consistent. They have had changes on the offensive line but still performed, as you know, and Will Howard and Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, those three have really moved the offense.

"For us, it was the consistency. Georgia, very good team, great win against Texas, a win over Clemson. Consistency in terms of their offense. They've had some inconsistencies there, but they have a great defense. ... It was a close analysis, but in the end, we just felt that Ohio State was a more consistent performer at this point in time."

While one of Ohio State's 21-17 victory over Nebraska didn't come in as decisive a fashion as it arguably should have, Georgia has had several close calls of its own against lesser competition. The Bulldogs beat Kentucky by just a 13-12 scoreline, Mississippi State 41-31 and were trailing a four-loss Florida team 13-6 at halftime last weekend before coming back to win 34-20. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck threw three interceptions in the game.

The Buckeyes' No. 2 ranking makes them the highest one-loss team in college football, ahead of four of the five undefeated squads across the sport: No. 4 Miami, No. 8 Indiana, No. 9 BYU and No. 25 Army.

As CFP executive director Rich Clark put it, however, wins and losses aren't all created equal. Ohio State has one of the best wins in college football with its victory at No. 6 Penn State this past Saturday, and its loss is inarguably as good as a loss can get, a one-point defeat on the road to No. 1 Oregon.

"That was an impressive game, and their performance was very strong against the No. 1 team in our ranking, as compared to a loss by Georgia to Alabama," Clark said. "It was on the road, but it didn't have the same, I'd say, impressiveness that the Ohio State loss did because Alabama is ranked 11 in our poll. Now, both losses are still — it says something about the team, but they're just not the same, and the committee saw it that way."

The committee was also impressed with how Ohio State responded to the loss of a key player in left tackle Josh Simmons for the season. After the Buckeyes managed a meager 2.1 yards per carry against Nebraska, they plugged Donovan Jackson in at left tackle and Carson Hinzman in at left guard against Penn State and used their running game to run out the final 5:13 of the clock on the game's final possession.

"We notice when linemen move around, when people are not in games that have played in games before," Manuel said. "To us, and we have two NFL and college Hall-of-Famers on the offensive line who also are on the committee and recognize and discuss the play in the line - I'm a former defensive end - so you tend to notice those things. It was impressive with the movement that Ohio State really moved the ball against Penn State, protected well against their rush."

Ohio State will try and find further consistency when it plays Purdue this Saturday. Kickoff is at noon on FOX.