Column: Early CFP rankings getting under the skin of Big Ten coaches, exposing an SEC complex

It goes without saying the College Football Playoff rankings are irrelevant until the final teams are selected after conference championship games.

Three weeks remain in the regular season, which is plenty of time to sow chaos.

But since ESPN has airtime to fill, ads to sell and pundits to pontificate, the show must go on.

The first CFP rankings spilled out on election night while many were paying attention to more important things, like saving democracy. In case you missed it, the initial rankings released Tuesday created quite a stir in Big Ten Nation, where everyone takes any snub personally.

Five of the top 10 teams were from the SEC, and only two — No. 4 Indiana and No. 8 UCLA — hailed from the Big Ten. Ohio State was all the way down to No. 12, while a couple of two-loss SEC teams — No. 5 Alabama and No. 7 Texas — were in the top eight.

Don’t worry. It’s early, as the ESPN analysts constantly remind us. Things will change between now and the playoff announcement Dec. 6, and teams in the mix Saturday could be on the outside looking in by Tuesday.

It’s best to ignore the rankings until they matter and to avoid watching the ESPN show until December.

The CFP rankings show is one of those things college football doesn’t really need, especially since the AP and coaches polls already exist. But since it’s on TV and we love college football, we watch it anyway, treating it like Pat McAfee’s kicking contest or halftime interviews with coaches on what adjustments they have to make in the second half.

But the CFP committee’s apparent snubbing of Big Ten teams was on the minds of many conference coaches this week, and for reasons unknown they couldn’t contain themselves.

Some seem to have an SEC complex, envious of their rival conference’s status even as the Big Ten arguably is as powerful as ever, with Indiana and UCLA picking up the slack for traditional powers Michigan and Penn State. The Big Ten is bigger and better that it has ever been, with the last three national champions.

But oh, those darn rankings are getting under coaches’ skin.

After Friday’s 24-13 win over Nebraska, Illinois coach Bret Bielema pointed out the Illini were 6-3 and beat a 5-3 team.

“If we were in the SEC, we’d probably be a top-15 team,” Bielema said. “We’ve just got to continue to stay on track where we’re at and do a really good job of holding the moment and putting ourselves in a position to be successful.”

Illinois, it should be noted, is not a Top 25 team in the AP or coaches polls and lost to lowly Purdue last month to start 2-3. It looked like a lost season, but four straight wins later they’re suddenly bowl-eligible and thinking big. Maybe the Cheez-It Bowl is calling their name? It never hurts to dream.

But a top-15 team? Win out and then give us a call.

SEC envy is not confined to Champaign-Urbana. Even Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, whose No. 19 Hawkeyes beat Northwestern 24-10 on Saturday night at new Ryan Field in Evanston, felt overlooked when asked last week if he had watched the CFP rankings show.

Rest assured he did not.

“ESPN is loving it, and I’m sure next time I look at my iPad I’m sure, I’ll be reading all about it,” Ferentz said about the initial rankings. “I did notice, like, they seem to promote the sports that they carry. Isn’t that correct?”

Well, it carries college football, so the answer is yes. But the Big Ten has TV relationships with Fox, NBC and CBS, while ESPN is married to the SEC. Ferentz joked that the SEC’s TV contract was meaningful in the rankings.

“We’re not ESPN, so we probably won’t make the rankings,” he said. “Haven’t gone that far, but anyway. Yeah, I’m not too worried about it.”

Indiana isn’t worried about it either, but coach Curt Cignetti, whose defending champion Hoosiers were only one “Gus-gasm” away from being unbeaten, was sitting pretty with an off week and only one ranked opponent remaining on the schedule. Indiana could make the CFP as an at-large team without making the Big Ten championship game.

But like Ferentz, Cignetti alluded to SEC bias in the rankings.

“These people — and there’s a whole bunch of them — they march out of the tent, they’re given instructions on what to say and follow the company line,” Cignetti said on his radio show.“I don’t need to go any further.”

Of course, being Cignetti, he just had to go further.

“SEC gets a lot of love from ESPN and all their writers that they don’t technically pay but march to their drum,” he said. “So that’s why you see all these SEC teams up there, you know, and some good two-loss teams from the Big Ten, not quite as high. But like I said, it’s all going to be played out on the field.”

If it’s all going to be played out on the field anyway, why bring it up? ESPN writers don’t choose the CFP teams, and the only glaring SEC bias on the network is from Nick Saban and Paul Finebaum.

Being ranked No. 4 should be considered a gift to the Hoosiers for last season’s dominance. Two of Indiana’s nonconference wins were against Howard and Western Kentucky, and they barely escaped with Big Ten wins over Northwestern and Minnesota. Their only loss came to Ohio State after a would-be game-winning touchdown was caught barely out of bounds. But Ohio State was beaten by USC last week and by Oregon at home Saturday and figures to plunge in the rankings this week.

This is no juggernaut but a good team that still has a chance to prove itself. Indiana plays host to No. 20 USC on Saturday in its last big conference matchup before the Big Ten championship game.

There will be plenty of time to debate the Big Ten-SEC rivalry after the final rankings are released that week.

Until then, please keep your conspiracy theories to yourselves.