Last year, we outlined in perfect, factual detail how and why the College Football Playoff was fixed for the SEC champion. As we approach the end of the 2020 regular season in college football—a season that never should have been played, of course—we once again see the bias of corruption and money selling out the sport for the CFP’s profiteering benefit.

The newest rankings are silly, of course, when compared to leading sabermetric standings compiled from the best sources. Here we go again: the first system below has had a hand in shaping 21st-century college football, for better or worse; the second represents the most advanced analysis possible today; and the third is a long-time mainstay dating back to the Bowl Championship Series era in college football.

  • ESPN FPI: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M
  • Football Outsiders: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, BYU, Notre Dame, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Oklahoma, Coastal Carolina
  • Jeff Sagarin: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Iowa State
  • CFP committee: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Florida, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Georgia, Miami (FL)

A quick glance shows you how whack the CFP rankings are with a normalized Top 10: Notre Dame is third, despite averaging a ranking between sixth and seventh based on math elsewhere. Likewise, Ohio State is second in all three sabermetric systems, but the CFP committee has shunted them to fourth. Texas A&M isn’t even ranked in the Top 10 by Football Outsiders, and the other two systems rank the Aggies 8th and 10th.

Money talks, that is for sure. The consensus is Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson in that order, followed by a debate for the fourth team. Yet the CFP is up to its usual shenanigans. ESPN cannot even call out the CFP, since it owns the TV broadcast rights to the whole charade—despite the fact ESPN’s own internal sabermetrics reveal how much of a joke the CFP has become.

Follow the money, folks … always. This is America now.