𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Drilling down on the long list of ACC ranking subplots, how (and where) the committee ranks Virginia, Louisville and Miami is a challenging exercise. No. 14 Virginia (8-2) and No. 15 Louisville (7-2) both lost to unranked opponents, while No. 18 Miami (7-2) defeated Syracuse. All three teams now have two losses, with Virginia previously beating Louisville, who previously beat Miami. Will the head-to-head results determine where those teams are slotted this week? The committee didn’t seem to care much about head-to-head when ranking two-loss Notre Dame well ahead of two-loss Miami last week, despite head-to-head likely factoring in to having Alabama-Georgia-Ole Miss at Nos. 4-5-6.

There’s no simple correct answer, but this is the risk the committee takes by making the rankings public each week: it’s easy to back themselves into a corner. And the more their explanations move away from the results on the field we all witnessed with our own eyes, the less credibility it gives them.