College Football Playoff chairman explains Florida over Kentucky
Big Blue Nation demands answers as to why Florida is ranked ninth in the College Football Playoff Rankings, six places ahead of No. 15 Kentucky, when Kentucky beat Florida by double digits in Gainesville. With matching records and two very similar resumes, it would seem the result of the head-to-head matchup would be an easy way to separate the two teams. Kentucky won, so Kentucky should have the better ranking. It seems simple, really.
It’s not that easy, though, according to Rob Mullens, the chairman of the College Football Playoff. Mullens said the committee prioritized the “total body of work” over Kentucky beating Florida in direct competition, which, I’d like to remind you, came by double digits on Florida’s own turf.
“I mean, Florida had the head-to-head over LSU,” Mullens explained on a teleconference Tuesday evening. “Obviously Kentucky did have the quality win over Florida and over Mississippi State.”
“Again, I think it’s just total body of work. When you start to line those up, when you get to the end of the year here, sometimes it is more difficult to distinguish. But when you look at Florida’s overall body, with their wins, it put them at 9, LSU at 10, then Kentucky at 15.”
So there’s your explanation from the chairman: Total Body Of Work > Kicking Florida’s Ass In Florida
72 Comments for College Football Playoff chairman explains Florida over Kentucky
OH, that makes perfect sense now! Why didn’t he just say, “Because you are Kentucky, and they are Florida”? At least that would have been HONEST!
^^^^That’s exactly right. All that needs to be said
Fkin right! Needs to take that gator dongle out of his mouth before he talks
So forget about Florida ahead of us and for the record as many have stated take care of the UT game and we aren’t having this conversation but what about Penn State: 0-2 against CFP Top 25, Wash St. 1-2 (best win #17), UCF (although I want to see them in the CFP final 4) 0-0, Michigan: 0-2, Texas:2-1 (best win #5), Wash:2-0 (Best win #13), Oklahoma:2-1 (best win #16), UK:3-2 (best win #9). We also have more wins or as many against bowl eligible teams than most of the teams. Honestly, by seasons end I’m not sure we were playing as well as any of those teams but don’t give me body of work crap because if its that Kentucky is likely top 8.
What rainman have you trueblue is that they are Florida and we are Kentucky. And we’re talking about football. That’s the bottom line, even after all the stats are counted and dissected
Gave you
That is a total and complete COPOUT!! Fine, Florida beat LSU, but we kicked Florida’s ass AT Florida. That was such a pathetic excuse by Mullens.
We also got our butts handed to us in Knoxville by a team that isn’t bowl eligible and was eviscerated by Vanderbilt 2 weeks later
Missouri at Florida….
You’ve nailed it!!!
Uk has also has edge in margin with common opponents… Florida has ut vandy verses Uk with better margins with usc georgia(both lose) mizzou and miss state…
So a win at home against a 9-3 top 10 team is worth more than a win on the road against a 9-3 top 10 team? A road win v #25 isn’t better then a home loss to the same team? We both lost to UGa by 17 and 19 respectively. We lost to a top 20 team on the road in OT… they lost to a top 15 team (us) at home. We won head to head. Granted the UT loss on road was worse than their loss to Mizzou at home, by a little. But that’s the difference in 9 and 15??? Not even plausible.
Would have been nice if the person interviewing Mullen had laid all this out after his explanation and then asked ‘what exactly is it in these comparative scores that tells you Florida’s body of work was six spots better?’
If we beat Tn, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Sad but true
Exactly
Do you think since Mullen’s is a firmer Kentucky Assistant A.D. that he didn’t want to come across as biased??? He just killed his chance at becoming the UK AD whenever Mitch retires.
Yep thanks for the explanation we all knew. They are Florida and we are Kentucky. Overall body of work? We beat them head to head, we both beat Mississippi state, we beat Missouri and they didn’t. Unbelievable really. I know our Tennessee loss was bad but is losing at home to Missouri by 4 touchdowns acceptable?? Lol just say the real reason. “They are Kentucky there is no way we put them in a NY6 over Florida”
Not taking into account location of games. We beat Fl
Same opponents
UK did better against MS State, SC, Missouri, Georgia
Florida did better against Tenn, Vandy
Fl beat LSU
uK lost to Tx A&M in OT
4 other games each were pretty much cupcake games.
Body of work grading system must take into account the Tenn game and not the Missouri game.
Clearly they dont take home and away into account, which needs to change. Also think they put too much consideration in losses over wins. For instance our loss to UT makes us seem bad, compared to FL loss to Mizz. If that is the case, OSU better not get if OK beats Texas.
Kentucky sputtered toward the end, Florida was surging. That was the freshest in their minds
Definitely true for UK, but remember Florida got waxed at home by Missouri earlier this month
This explanation doesn’t pass the smell test. Follow the money and get the real reason.
Yep
No argument. See Tennessee game
Easy argument. See Florida and Missouri game as many have already stated.
No surprise Bigoldumbass had nothing positive to say. I’ll bet if he has a wife or husband they’re looking for a way out!
Same things banana says—- same person
Look, Kentucky has some warts. They found a way to win, and they did that many times, but that’s not they are looking for in a new years bowl game. This decision is not just about records. It’s about ratings and the product on the field as viewed through revenue.
Normally I get annoyed with using “they disrespected us!” as a motivational tool, but in this case I’m good with it. I think this team needs it, actually – players and coaches.
UK had one brain fart this year that was more like an extended hangover. Leading up to the Georgia game was intense. I’m not a double X chromosome but I have witnessed a little bit of postpartum in my wife. There can be a natural letdown when you are amped up. That letdown against UT cost us quite a bit but still had a great season. I would rather be 15th with UF streak ended than 9th with streak still going (with identical 9-3 records that is).
Me too
I think head-to-head should matter above all when records are similar. However, I see why they went UF based on total body of work. The biggest difference is that we lost to a 5 W team and their worst loss was to an 8 W team. Our W vs them is cancelled out by them beating LSU. We both beat MSU, SC, and Vandy, so no difference there. OOC sucked for both…as bad as FSU was, UL was even worse.
I understand the frustration over this, but if anyone had told me before the beginning of the season we would be in the Citrus or Outback bowl, I would say they were crazy…
Plus 1
Yeah, this is probably a good perspective.
I hate the term “overall body of work”.
Let’s talk “total body of work”…Pre-season FPI had UK #59 (1.7)…13th in SEC-6th in East & projected to go 5-7…UK went 9-3 against #14 SOS (5-3 & # 2 in SEC East)…4-2 against the FPI top 30 (per final WK13 rankings – W against #9/12/13/27 – L=3/18 – UGA by 17 – TAM by 6 in OT)…(17pt loss to #65 UT)
UK has an historical season, Benny, Josh & the # 7 scoring DEF in the nation…But little respect from the committee.
UF (Pre-season FPI #21…8-4 / 12.5)…went 9-3 against #18 SOS…(5-3 3rd in East )…3-3 against FPI top 30 (W=9/16/27 – L=3/12/25-UK..Three losses at home by double digits – UK by 11 / UGA by 19 / Mizzu by 18…UF played 2 FCS schools, as well.
UF has Mullen, a QB controversy & favorable bias based off of name recognition.
Relevant WK13 FPI Ranks: UGA #3 / MState #9 / Mizzu #12 / UF #13 / LSU #16 / UK #25 / SCar #27.
Final FPI “Strength of Record”
#10 = UK
#11 – Wash State
#12- UF
#13 – Washington
#15 – Texas
#16 – Penn State
#18 – WVU.
Meaning the committing is full of itself with it’s “Body of Work” BS…It’s about Name Recognition, not accomplishment!!!
issacs I couldn’t read all that crap you put up there. Too many numbers and not really in to stats. But I agree with your last sentence…all about name recognition
I could very easily see the person making this argument taking both team’s body of work and exchanging ours with Florida’s and still concluding that Florida ranked ahead of us. Classic case of cherry picking and assigning more weight to the factors that bring about the desired outcome and discounting those that refute it.
This “outcome -determined” analysis is both selective and defective….but it remains the outcome…..sort of like the UK v USC game a few years ago when UK got flagged for having 12 men on the field late in the game….when no substitutions took place and there were actually only 11 players on the field when the flag was thrown….unreviewable call….. 5 yard penalty…play on Life happens..
They got 2 losses on home field. UK had 1. 1 of their losses was a blow out by Mizzou. Who barely made a bowl. It dont matter same record n we beat them head to head on their field. When we get nods in Mens B.B I dont like it if it’s obvious we shouldn’t be ranked over a opponent. UK vs Everybody tho.
To be fair, Missouri is 8-4 and ranked in the top 25.
We lost to a putrid UT team. Most recent bad memory cost us. We win that we are ranked top8. UT finished season by getting shellacked by Missouri and Vandy!
Yea that UT deal and we were very lucky at times, penalty gods favored us plenty…… and we dont have a qb….. cant pass, qbs can pass, and we don’t have a qb…… us having a qb is along the lines of putting lipstick on a pig.
I hope it gets better, but I kinda think the ability to be able to hit running targets is built in, rather than being able to teach it to a running back… not to mention very poor reads. How many times in the few attempts made did he throw into double coverage way down field or miss them by a mile.
I hope he turns corner and becomes great, good luck tw
Terry’s deep ball needs more air but the ability is there. He completed some really nice intermediate throws to Bowden and Conrad…. just didn’t try it enough. That’s likely because he doesn’t know where each receiver is going to break in which the coaches didn’t effectively teach him the route trees… or he was instructed to count to two and hit the safety valve if he doesn’t see anything open immediately. That would explain the odd WR screens. Many were clearly not by design as evidenced by the fact there were no blockers…we relied on the receiver’s ability to make someone miss one on one. His struggles were due to coaching and play calling in my opinion. Coaches could’ve made life easier for him. As it was, he completed most everything he was asked to throw. Why Conrad was never used on box out curls a la Jason Whitten is beyond me. Same can be said on quick slants or 7 yard crossing routes by the receivers.
“Terry Quickslide” hates getting hit. Needs to be doing something other than football!
Not saying that we shouldn’t be ranked closer together but I doubt anyone would take us over florida at this point in time. Minus the UofL game, we’ve looked pretty terrible for over a month.
This too. The UL win means nothing. Everyone knows they are terrible.
Can’t disagree with you IndianaSucks. And I love the name, “IndianaSucks”. My guess is you live along the border and have to work with some of their obnoxious fans. Or you have married into their family or one has married into yours
Rob Mullens and Dan Mullen ? Hmmmm.
Total body of work is complete BS, because if were being real, we have the better TOTAL body of work… let’s look at it….
Florida ranked wins are #10lsu, 27-19, and barely Miss. State. 13-6, They should have lost AT home to south Carolina, barely won by 4, 35-31, and got BEAT DOWN by Mizzou AT home 38-17. They lost to uga 36-17.. We lost to uga 34-17, won AT #9Florida 27-16, beat Miss. State 28-7, beat South Carolina 24-10, and won AT #24Mizzou 15-14..
Florida best win – #10lsu(9-3) [email protected]
Kentucky best win – #9Florida(9-3) [email protected]
2nd best win
Florida- Miss. State(8-4) 13-6 @Miss. State
Kentucky – Miss. State(8-4) 28-7 @Home
3rd Best Win
Florida – South Carolina(6-5) 35-31 @Home
Kentucky – Mizzou(8-4) 15-14 @Mizzou
Shouldn’t that be all that needs to be said? Oh, and by the way, as I stated above, we also played usc and beat them 24-10, and they also played Mizzou and got handled AT home 38-17…. Don’t know exactly what body of work they are looking at… but it’s complete B.S. they just made excuses because Florida is Florida, and we’re Kentucky..
Absolute truth!
I wish they’d just be honest about it. If he’d said, “Honestly, we took a look at who’s wins were prettier over the majority of the last half of the seaso and Florida made their wins look a little bit easier than Kentucky did. The final straw, so to speak, was the Tennessee game.” I could have accepted that answer.
Kentucky didn’t lose to Missouri on the road, lile Florida did at home just a few weeks ago. It has nothing to do with anything but the name on the ticket, number of viewers, and the school history. Florida struggled with South Carolina, MSU, and didn’t set the world on fire vs FSU.
Our bad, late loss to UT was in Knoxville. Their bad late loss was to Missouri in Gainesville. It’s bad salesmanship no matter how you spin it.
Sucks to lose to UT, sure. I get that. Doesn’t erase finishing ahead of Florida in the SEC and beating them at their place. Let’s play them again
Looks like another trip to the Music City Bowl…
The loss to a bad UT team hurt us deeply.
9-3. Beat Florida, Beat Louisville, 2nd in the division.
Bitching about ratings, and bowl projections.
I think this is awesome, because not that long ago, we had no hope of this opportunity.
I will take whatever we will get.
The future, is looking good for the program, we have a team, folks.
We finally have a team.
Go Cats.
Yessireee
So we beat Florida, then Florida beats LSU, so of course the only logical thing they can do is put both of them ahead of us? Well, these are the same people that think Notre Dame is actually good enough to be in the top 4 even though they’ve played no one. Smh.
?
Sometimes, when I’m at work and don’t know the answer I just repeat a couple key words over and over then move to the next question.
It is total BS to put Florida ahead of us. But it is totally unacceptable for Kentucky to lose to Tennessee this season. Our team obviously has a mental problem when they face the Vols and are probably beat before they leave the locker room.
Still we deserve to be ranked ahead of Florida.
We had our chance to take care of business. There is no crying in football.
Being 15th would be easier to understand if UF was 16th. Personally I haven’t watched enough of the other teams to make judgement, but I would say if UF is better then the so are we. UF sure as hell isn’t 6 places better than us… too bad we can’t play them again in a bowl just to put an end to this non-sense!!!
“Blah blah fling blah” -Mullens
Fck.ing.bull.shtt.is.fking.bull.sht.
Total body of work=it’s not you, it’s me=check is in the mail=i have been castrated by others on the committee because i once worked at UK
Its about name recognition. Total body of work- UK BEAT UF at THEIR PLACE. UK handled Gamecocks and MSU, beat Missouri when Missouri was doing well. Gators squeaked by SoCarolina, lost to Missouri at home 3 weeks ago, beat UT before they were finding themselves and couldn’t put up numbers on a dismal FSU. Beating LSU isn’t such a big deal since A&M beat them.
Tools every one of these liars
I’m so Fckn sick of that explanation, “ Total Body Of Work “. What an absolute crock of shit! That’s their way of justifying screwing teams in Football AND Basketball. The “ Total Body Of Work “ is, we beat their ass on THEIR field
The reason is that Florida improved the second-half of the season and we regressed. That was my first thought, so why that just isn’t the explanation is beyond me
In 2015 our basketball team finished 38-1, pretty good “body of work”, yet in final poll, we were ranked #3 behind #2 Wisconsin…’cause they beat us.
We whipped Florida in football on their home field…anything after that is total BS.
Great point.
Who’s to say we couldn’t have beaten LSU…
The Tennessee loss is what hurt us
The answer is simple: they beat LSU (top 10 in final ranking) & we lost to TN (unranked & not bowl eligible). Enjoy the best season & the best bowl we’ve been to in years.