Michael Bonner

The Clarion-Ledger

Dan Mullen said if his players could have choose one bowl, outside the semifinals, they would have picked the Orange Bowl.

Mississippi State got its wish. It jumped Michigan State in the final College Football Rankings to secure its first trip to the Orange Bowl since 1941.

The rankings are pivotal for the selection of the teams in the Orange Bowl. The game pits an ACC representative against the top ranked non-champion from the SEC, Big Ten and Notre Dame.

Heading into the last week of the season, Mississippi State ranked 10th. Michigan State sat at No. 8. At that point, the Spartans were set to go to the Orange Bowl, especially since neither MSU played last week.

Yet, when the final rankings were released last Sunday, Mississippi State climbed three spots to No. 7. Michigan State remained at No. 8.

Here's why that happened, according to Jeff Long, the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee:

"We went back and looked at Mississippi State and Michigan State and really, when we started that clean sheet of paper, the fact that Mississippi State had two top-25 wins really caused us to look at those rankings and rank them differently. When Mississippi State has four top-25 victories, along with four other victories against winning programs or bowl-eligible teams and Michigan State had zero, and they have four against .500 or better teams. So that's really what swayed us to make that change."

The move makes senses under the explanation. It doesn't explain then why Michigan State was ever ahead of Mississippi State. The resumes of the two teams were the same in Week 15 as Week 16. The committee corrected its mistake from Week 15's rankings, but the move won't instill confidence in already controversial the selection process.

Many have wondered why Ohio State entered the semifinals over Baylor and TCU. The Buckeyes jumped the Horned Frogs in the final week of the season. TCU was firmly in the playoff as the No. 3 team in Week 15. It dropped to No. 6 in the final week after it beat Iowa State 55-3.