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Some fans don't agree with the final team in the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's latest rankings.
According to FanJuicer.com, those polled by the website chose Minnesota as who should be the fourth team to make the playoffs rather than the CFP committee's choice of Georgia.
According to the poll, the top four teams in college football are LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Minnesota. Despite being left out of the top four in the College Football Playoff rankings and Associated Press poll, fans across the country believe that the Golden Gophers are a top contender after a Saturday road win at Penn State.
The website polled 1,421 college football fans across the United States to get the results, using a different process to generate the data than the selection committee. While it is unknown what exactly the committee uses to generate their picks, a team's record, strength of schedule and football power rankings (FPI) all play a part in the decision.
For the FanJuicer poll, participants were given 24 sets of four teams, and in each set they choose the team they felt is best and worst.
"This produces natural 'tiers' of items, which are another major benefit of this technique over a traditional ranking exercise," the website states.
Since the poll uses a different ranking system, it is important to note the actual meaning of each team's score. "The MaxDiff scores for each team are indexed against the average score of 100. For example, Florida's MaxDiff score of 176 means that the team was ranked 76 percent higher than the average team in the exercise," the website reads.
The Golden Gophers are currently sitting on a 9-0 record, but were ranked eighth by College Football Playoff Committee and seventh in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll. After losing to LSU on Saturday, perennial favorite Alabama is ranked No. 5 in the CFP and No. 4 in the AP poll. Georgia is No. 5 according to the AP and No. 4 in the CFP rankings.
In the poll, Minnesota was given a MaxDiff score of 244, higher than both Alabama and Georgia. According to the poll's ranking system, the score of 244 would equate the Gophers being ranked 144 percent higher than the average teams that fans chose from.
Another portion of the poll compares the National Championship estimates over the past two weeks. Prior to week 11, Ohio State was the fan-favorite to win with 55 percent of votes, followed by LSU (18 percent), Alabama (14 percent) and Clemson (9 percent).
After Ohio State, LSU and Clemson won their week 11 games, the voting percentages for the National Championship have changed. Ohio State continues to lead the pack but at a lower percentage of 49 percent. LSU had a big jump from last week to 37 percent, followed by Clemson at 10 percent.
Teams like LSU, Ohio State and Clemson could solidify their spots in the College Football Playoff as they attempt to keep their perfect seasons alive against three non-ranked teams in week 12. Minnesota will look to make their case as a top four team when they take on No. 23 ranked Iowa.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more