Despite Army’s undefeated record and ability to pass the so-called “eye test” week in and week out, the Black Knights have only been able to inch up to No. 24 in the College Football Playoff Rankings with less than a month left in the season.
And no one seems to care.
That’s why their game in two weeks vs. No. 8 Notre Dame is a massive one. To date, Army’s best win is its most recent — a 14-3 road victory over North Texas that was more dominant than the score indicated.
What will be interesting to see moving forward is how far they jump up the rankings if they pull off the huge upset. Keep in mind, the Black Knights are on a bye and have two weeks to prepare for the Fighting Irish. Conversely, Notre Dame takes on Virginia this weekend in a game that could be closer than many people think. Many will point to Notre Dame’s blowout win vs. Navy on a week’s notice as a counter argument, but that leaves out two key facts: 1) Navy moved the ball at will against the Irish but 2) had an unprecedented amount of turnovers.
Army is just laying in wait, cooking up something special out there in West Point.
Group of Five rankings remain important. Though these conferences get a significantly lower financial guarantee from the new 12-team CFP, they are on a more equitable field when it comes to the competition: The four highest ranked conference champions get byes, and the five highest ranked champs get auto-bids, but nothing is to say that the supposed “Power Four” are guaranteed those four byes or four of those five spots; if a Group of Five team were to outrank, hypothetically, the Big 12 champion, it would get a bye and home game. And with those spots comes financial windfalls based on success in the tournament.
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Group of Five Power Rankings
