The College Football Playoff committee is under a ton of pressure this year to get the increasingly complicated field of 12 teams right.
One of the things that hasn’t helped that objective is the weekly rankings show, where the committee is forced to rank teams week by week with the data they have at the time. The continual discussion has opened their work up to increasingly fiery criticism as holes in their logic are already being exposed. And it’s been exacerbated by Notre Dame being continually ranked ahead of Miami in spite of a head-to-head defeat.
On College GameDay, there was a lengthy segment breaking down all the scenarios from championship weekend and what could happen to the field of 12. After going through the permutations, Kirk Herbstreit had a clear and simple message.
Get rid of the weekly rankings show.
Kirk Herbstreit and Nick Saban are both ready to dump the weekly CFP rankings.
“Honestly I think we should remove, with all due respect, the Tuesday night show.” pic.twitter.com/7xMOmpm1ZX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 6, 2025
“If you talk to the conference commissioners, honestly, I think we should remove, with all due respect, the Tuesday night show. Because truly, until all the data is in – conference championships, head-to-head, I think all the data comes in, then you can look at this fairly. But to look at this week by week, I just think it sets us up for things like, ‘well that doesn’t make sense, how could you do that? You’ve had Notre Dame ahead of these guys all week, they didn’t even play, how are you going to flip Miami now? It’s really not supposed to be the real rankings until the season is over,” Herbstreit said.
“I agree with you because you put yourself in a box,” Saban added.
It’s not a surprise to hear Herbstreit voice his disdain for the weekly rankings show. When Florida State was controversially left out of the four-team playoff after an injury to starting quarterback Jordan Travis two years ago, Herbie became public enemy number one in Tallahassee for advocating in favor of the decision. He then left the weekly rankings show with his schedule also filling up thanks to Thursday Night Football duties with Amazon.
But it’s not just about analysts taking fire from fans, it’s about the committee continuing to make it up as they go along and sending mixed signals in an exercise that can do nothing but draw righteous indignation from everyone for their inevitable flip flops along the way. We’ve got fans flying banners over the CFP headquarters all because ESPN and the committee are bringing the pain and suffering upon themselves.
The only thing the College Football weekly rankings show does is put the committee in an impossible position. All it does is wind up schools and their fans and provide countless examples to question their work and legitimacy.
Of course, Kirk Herbstreit doesn’t have to convince us that this is the right thing to do. He has to convince his bosses at ESPN that continue to schedule it because they like the content and the drama it creates.
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