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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah football program has some work to do if it hopes to be in the College Football Playoff discussion after the season's first rankings were released Tuesday.
After lengthy review the College Football Playoff committee released its first rankings of the season Tuesday and had Utah ranked at No. 12. The ranking is one spot higher than Utah's ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the Amway USA Today Coaches Poll, which were released Sunday.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has avoided much of the rankings talk all season but said on Saturday after Utah's win over Oregon State that he was looking forward to where the committee sees his program.
"I'm very interested in that because that's what it's all about. The other rankings are just window dressings for the fans and the media and don't mean a whole lot," Whittingham said. "We'll be looking closely at where we're at. … We just need to find out where we're at."
Since its inception last year, Utah has been ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings every week. Utah entered the rankings at No. 17 in week 9, which is the highest the program saw all season. Utah dropped as low as No. 25 in week 13.
The Utes are one of three teams from the Pac-12 included in the rankings, with Stanford coming in at No. 11 and UCLA coming in at No. 23. The Pac-12 still has a viable shot at one of the College Football Playoffs spot but have a tough road ahead. Last season's national champion, Ohio State, was ranked No. 16 in the first-ever College Football Playoff ranking.
The committee shook up the top teams in the country, ranking Clemson as the best team in the country. Behind Clemson is No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Alabama.
Committee chairman Jeff Long said in a teleconference with media that the rankings reflect a "deeper" look into a team's resume and that a team's record was not the only factor in the first rankings.
"Winning games, of course, is the first thing we look at and the most important. A team's record speaks volumes, but it doesn't tell us everything about that team's résumé," Long said. "Our committee's charge is to go deeper. We always look at strength of schedule, and this was discussed in great depth over the last two days. Losses against a quality opponent were also taken into account."
