Palm: Miami Should Be Ranked Ahead Of Alabama

Jerry, how are you? I'm alright, how are you? I'm very well.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. I guess let's get The Ohio State University, you know, out of the way. Ryan Day loses again. This was supposed to be the one he wins.

We saw what took place afterwards with all the fighting, the pushing, the shoving, the flag, the pepper spray. We even had the new athletic director have to make a statement that we're not firing the guy. Ryan Day can't win to save nothing to save himself, right?

You know, it's funny. I'm a Purdue guy. We just fired our Ryan Walters.

But it's just like, you know, the difference is so stark. Ryan Day loses four times in a row to Michigan and everything else he's done doesn't matter. Ryan Walters won four games, maybe it was five at Purdue, total in two years. He didn't beat Michigan and hardly beat anybody. But, you know, and there was actually some debate whether or not Ryan Walters would get fired.

And it's just so starkly different, the expectations in those two places. It's, yeah, I mean, it's obviously, you know, in another year prior to this one, Ohio State's chances of making their college football playoff would be pretty close to zero because they wouldn't get to play for their conference title. They're not going to be high enough in the rankings to get enough help probably to move up into the top four.

But now it doesn't matter. I mean, they're still going to get a shot. They've still got an excellent team. You know, Ohio State's going to be one of the favorites when this playoff starts, even though they weren't able to play Michigan and they won't have to worry about playing Michigan in this year's playoffs because they're seven and five and going to something like the, you know, the Music City Bowl or something. Yeah, well, if they get lucky, they end up at the Pop Tart Bowl, right?

I don't know. No, that would be great. But the Big Ten's not in that one.

Yeah. Jerry, Jerry Palm is joining us from CBS Sports. When you talk about another disappointment over the weekend, we saw what took place with Miami. The defense failed them again. How far do you expect Miami to fall when we get to these college football playoff rankings? I think they're going to fall to just above Alabama, but they could go lower.

And there are cases to be made on either side of that. You know, Alabama's got some great wins, a couple of pretty questionable losses, a particularly embarrassing one by their standard at Oklahoma. You know, Miami doesn't have the big win, but, you know, they only lost twice.

Neither of the losses are really terrible losses other than a team like Miami should win those games. But, you know, we're talking about the same thing with Alabama. So my guess is that Miami will end up ahead of Alabama.

That would make them the last team in the playoff. So that line where the committee draws it is pretty important. But there's certainly a case to put Miami below it, but it's really important. This week's rankings are really important because, historically, in the college football playoff rankings, the teams that don't play on championship weekend hold their position relative to the other teams that are not playing. So you don't see teams that aren't playing jump each other.

You know, you are where you are. So if Alabama is behind Miami this weekend, they're going to be behind Miami next weekend, even if someone jumps up in between them, they will still be behind Miami. And so that's why these rankings are really important because that spot could end up being the cut line for this tournament.

Well, let me ask you this. I mean, we got two teams that are going to play here in Georgia on Saturday in the SEC Championship game. We saw Texas barely get by A&M. We saw the Georgia, the Bulldogs, have to go to eight overtimes to knock off Tech. They're going to be in action.

I hope so. I mean, eight overtimes. I mean, damn it. It took forever, hopefully, to be done by the time they play on Saturday. But having said that, there's a possibility, and yeah, they beat them already. Georgia already beat Texas, but there's a possibility that they lose and that they now have three losses.

You talk about being inactive on conference championship day. What happens between Texas and Georgia? Okay, so another pretty consistent thing that happens in these rankings on championship weekend championship weekend is if the lower ranked team in the championship game loses, the committee is very forgiving.

Sometimes you don't lose ground at all. Now, the exception is if you get blown out. So if Texas blows Georgia out, Georgia's going to fall and how far remains to be seen. But if it's a competitive game and Georgia loses, they may not drop at all, not even one spot. And that's kind of how this committee has treated the lower ranked team getting beaten in a championship game. Now, if there's an upset, that's completely different. Those teams are going to move. But a lower ranked team losing a competitive game does not usually get punished by this selection committee.

And Jerry Palm is here with us, the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. A team that we're looking at, they've been sitting around holding on to number one are the Oregon Ducks. Good for them this year. They're able to knock off Washington. They got Penn State coming up next. They've kind of been coasting all things considered outside of that close one with the Ohio State University. What are your thoughts on Oregon?

Not necessarily this game against Penn State, because I think Penn State's going to lose. What are your thoughts about them and Dylan Gabriel and their chances of saying, hey, okay, well, Ohio State lost with the best of the best. Now, forget everybody else. Well, they certainly have a claim to that. They're the only team among the majors. Anyway, well, they're the only team, period, that hasn't gotten beaten yet.

So, you know, there's a claim to be made there. They did beat Ohio State. They were able to play them at home, which was nice. Penn State will be a challenge on a more neutral site in Indianapolis. And that's a very good team as well. But, you know, Oregon's had a tremendous season. Whether they win or lose this game, they're a team that's capable of winning the whole thing. If they do win, they'll be the number one seed in the playoff, which means they get, you know, an 8-9 winner, which, you know, could be something like Ohio State and Tennessee in an 8-9 game.

That could be your first game if you're Oregon. So, you know, this playoff is really going to be great. But they've had a tremendous year. They're really good on both sides of the ball. They're mostly known for their offense at Oregon. But their defense is a top-notch unit. And it's one of the reasons, primary reasons, why this team is number one and not just very good.

Well, Jerry, you talk about a team. They have a loss and they've been on a roll since that loss. I'm talking about Notre Dame. I mean, since they lost to Northern Illinois, they've just rattled off victory after victory after victory. No conference championship here. What are your thoughts on how Notre Dame can compete in the playoff? Well, if they continue to play, especially defensively, the way they have, I think they've got a good shot.

You know, they're really kind of untested. They beat A&M on the road. That's a really good win to start the season. They've lost to Northern Illinois. And then the rest of their schedule, I don't think there's a ranked team on it.

So, you know, USC was a little bit down this year. Louisville is going to end up with four losses and probably missed the ranking. I don't think there's another ranked team on their schedule. So it's going to be a step up in competition that they haven't seen since the first game when they go into this playoff. And, of course, they can't get a bye because the byes go to conference champions. So the best seed that they could get would be five.

But they'll probably be closer to six or maybe seven. But, you know, Notre Dame is capable of doing really well. They're an excellent team. But I don't think they're as well tested as some of these other teams are. Jerry, you talk about a conference and getting byes. If we go out west, we know Boise State, unlikely, but they've been in the rankings technically there for the bye. We know they're going to take on UNLV in the Mountain West. And then we have Arizona State and Iowa State getting ready to go at it as well.

How do you think those teams are going to round out when we get close to that 12 line? Well, if they win their conference championships, they're in. Boise State, if they win their conference championship, will not only be in, but they'll get a bye. They'll probably be the third or fourth seed, depending on what happens in the ACC.

But, you know, that's a really good team. They took Oregon. It's funny, their best win is the loss to Oregon, because, you know, that was a three-point game.

It went all the way down to the wire. Boise State really acquitted itself well against the number one team in the country. If they beat UNLV this weekend, then they will.

That will be their best win of the season, their only other win over a ranked team, or their only win over a ranked team. But this is an excellent team, and they're good on both sides of the ball. Now, they get a lot of attention for running back Ashton Gente, who's putting up some insane numbers and threatening Barry Sanders records.

He's a tremendous player that's going to be a high draft pick if running backs are still valued in the NFL. But, yeah, they're a great team. It would be disappointing at this point for them to get beat and not get a chance to show off how good they are in the college football playoff. But that's what competition is.

They got to go out and win the game. Well, Jerry, we know that the landscape in college has changed so much. The expansion from four teams now to 12.

God only knows how many we're going to move into in the future. You think about the transfer portal and NIL, and you look at the parity, and we talk about the upsets that we've seen over this weekend throughout the course of the year. Should we expect this moving forward when it comes to college football? Should we just forget about some team dominating things for four or five, ten years? This is norm. This is the new norm, right? Well, it feels like it's always been the norm. I mean, you've had teams have runs of success, but you don't get a lot of back-to-back national champions in the sport.

It happens. And you see a lot of the same names up there every year, but they don't always win the whole thing. But now that we've got 12 teams at all five conferences or four conferences, the major conferences, plus at least one non-major conference are going to be involved every year. I think we're going to see more names that we're not as familiar with, or maybe we will become more familiar with them as they are able to build programs that are able to compete on a kind of consistent basis in this playoff. But I think it's going to be more open, if you will, to names that we haven't heard. Like, for example, Indiana this year, which is just incredible what they've done in just first year with a new coach to go 11-1 in the regular season and a lock for the college football playoff.

It's just amazing. All right. Let's see. Nettie is making the moves from JMU to Indiana. Who do you favor as the overall champ? What team do you look at and say, okay, I'll put my money on that? Let's say Georgia.

I like Georgia. I think there are other teams that are talented, and they certainly aren't dominant this year. They've had a tough schedule, they've taken a couple losses, but they've been the team that's been the most, I think, consistent throughout the season with the exception of Oregon. It's obviously very consistent. They're undefeated. But I just think that the way that Georgia has been tested this year, they're built and forged for a run through this college football playoff. Okay.

Hopefully Carson Beck, he can show up on the right plane and bust and doesn't throw the ball to the wrong team too, Jerry. I hope so. That's kind of an important thing. It certainly is.

Hey, Jerry, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work with CBS Sports? Yeah, it's on cbssports.com, the college football area. You can find myself on Twitter and Blue Sky. Is it Blue Sky?

Blue Sky. Yeah. Well, yes.

Everywhere, Jerry. You might as well be. Yeah. I'm trying out the new one. See if I like it. Now I hear that. Might as well. Hey, thank you so much, Jerry. We'll catch you on down the line, okay? All right. Thanks.