Fresno State is No. 23 in College Football Playoff rankings – what that means for Bulldogs
Fresno State landed a spot in the first College Football Playoff Rankings, coming in at No. 23. What does that mean for the Bulldogs? At the moment, not much. But it is a reason for Bulldogs fans to root for Cincinnati, No. 6 in the rankings, to lose a few games and it could be useful as a down-the-list tiebreaker in the Mountain West Conference.
With the Bulldogs leading the West Division at 4-1 and Utah State leading the Mountain at 4-1, the CFP ranking could come into play in determining the host for the conference championship game.
The title game is to be played in the home stadium of the divisional champion with the highest winning percentage in conference games and at this point there is a tie – Fresno State on Saturday plays Boise State and finishes with New Mexico and San Jose State and Utah State plays a non-conference game at New Mexico State and ends its regular season at San Jose State, against Wyoming and at New Mexico.
A head-to-head result would be the tiebreaker and Fresno State and Utah State do not play this season.
The next tiebreaker: if one team is ranked in the latest available CFP rankings and wins on the final weekend of the regular season, it will host. If that team were to lose, a composite average of selected computer rankings would be used to determine the host.
There also are tiebreaker scenarios in the event both teams are included in the CFP rankings.
The Bulldogs’ CFP ranking could also come into play in breaking a tie in the West Division, but Fresno State already holds the first head-to-head tiebreaker over San Diego State and Nevada, which are tied for second at 3-1.
Fresno State beat San Diego State last week 30-20 and beat Nevada before that 34-32.
The highest-ranked champion from a Group of Five conference (the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) is guaranteed a spot in a New Years Six bowl game, but Cincinnati, 8-0 and No. 6 in the CFP rankings, holds a significant lead there.
The Bearcats do have one tough game on the schedule down the stretch – they play 7-1 Southern Methodist on Nov. 20. But they also close out the regular season with games on Saturday against 3-5 Tulsa, at 2-6 South Florida and after matching up against SMU at 4-4 East Carolina.
Cincinnati, Fresno State and No. 24 San Diego State were the only Group of Five programs in the first CFP rankings.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 1:59 PM.