CCU might be ranked #18. The “esteemed” CFB playoff committee might’ve ranked them there... but they don’t REALLY believe their own ranking system.

They don’t think CCU would beat a lesser-ranked Iowa. They can’t fathom USC losing to CCU, and neither would Vegas. They don’t even really believe that CCU is a better team than unranked teams like Auburn or Texas.

And if you’re being honest, you probably agree.

Yet the committee ranked them ahead of all those teams, and you agree with that ranking... while also agreeing with the committee that CCU would probably lose to most of the teams ranked directly below them in the poll.

...Which shows just how stupid the polling system is. It’s an arbitrary system we’ve all bought into - to some degree. In this stupid system, CCU “deserves” to be ranked because they haven’t yet lost and other teams have. And they pass a vague eye test.

In a game that can be measured with exactness, yard by yard and point by point, we set all the meaningful measurements aside and instead “elect” a champion.

It truly is an asinine system unlike any in sports. You would expect inconsistencies in “artistic expression” sports like Olympic diving or synchronized skating, but even those sports have a tighter merit-based scoring system than college football. It’s just silly. Heck - to call this a “dog and pony show” might just be an insult to equestrians and dog handlers world-wide.

But for whatever reason, football fans just mostly accept it, because as the cliche’ goes: it is what it is.