It may not seem like a huge deal as we head into Week 10 of the regular season but the College Football Playoff committee ranking Utah up at No. 3 while the UCLA Bruins are down at No. 8 could have major consequences.
Both teams are unbeaten on the season, with Utah doing so in the Big 12 Conference while the Bruins are doing it in the Big Ten. Both teams have one ranked win heading into this weekend but the committee clearly favored the Utes and College Football Playoff chair Hunter Yurachek tried to explain why following the release of the first CFP ranking of the season.
“We had great discussion about that within our room. I think the committee has watched both of these teams play, UCLA and Utah. When you look at their strength of schedule,
their resumes, they’re almost identical with the number of teams above .500 that they’ve played,” Yurachek said. “We really like what Utah shows us when we watch them play. They’re very balanced offensively. They’ve got a dynamic quarterback in (Devon) Dampier that runs the offense. He’s a runner. He’s a dynamic passer. They have a running game. They have receivers and then they’re really good on defense.”
From Yurachek’s statement, it sounds like the committee has a bit more belief in Utah than they do in UCLA through the first eight games of the season. Nico Iamaleava being sidelined doesn’t help the matter, with Iamaleava providing a lot of the traits that Yurachek praised Dampier for.
“We looked at those two teams and evaluated them while watching their games, felt like Utah was above UCLA and just a better team when we watch them play.” Yuracheck said.
There’s still a lot of season left, with this all being a moot point for the Bruins if they can continue to stack victories under new head coach Bob Chesney. If UCLA slips, the committee has already proven to like Utah and two-loss Alabama and Texas over the Bruins for the CFP berth.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: CFP chair explains the committee placing No.3 Utah above No. 8 UCLA
