Alabama jumped from No. 4 to No. 2 in this week's resume ranking after winning at Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide is now within striking distance of Texas and is likely to overtake the Longhorns with a win over Georgia this week, even if Texas beats Oklahoma.
Taking down the struggling Sooners -- even on a neutral field -- won't bring a major resume boost for the Longhorns. But beating an elite team like Georgia -- even at home -- would register in a big way for Alabama.
Our meritocratic resume-ranking system assigns a numeric value between 0 and 1 to every victory. That value is determined by how likely an average No. 25-ranked team in the CBS Sports 138 would be to win the game.
CBS Sports 138: Alabama joins Texas, Georgia in top four as SEC teams headline college football rankings Chip Patterson
The value is calculated based on the opponent's CBS Sports 138 ranking and where the game was played. For example, a home win over the No. 2-ranked team (Georgia) would yield a +0.89 boost to Alabama's resume score. That's because an average No. 25 team would only be expected to defeat the No. 2-ranked team 11% of the time in a home game.
There's a lot of chatter around college football about "good losses," and some even prop up a silly idea that teams should have value added to their resumes for merely playing against difficult opponents. Well, if that's the case, then let's put Arkansas in the CFP.
That's obviously ridiculous. But our system finds the middle ground; in addition to quantifying the value of wins, it acknowledges that not all losses are created equal.
If Alabama loses to Georgia, it only receives a -0.11 hit to its resume score. That would be a minor ding on the Crimson Tide's ledger, and it reflects that the average No. 25-ranked team would lose a home game against the nation's No. 2 team 89% of the time. But if Ohio State loses at home to No. 73 Maryland this week, its resume score will take a brutal -0.87 hit that will be challenging to recover from.
Here's where things stand in a meritocratic resume ranking entering Week 6.
College Football Playoff Resume Rankings1
Texas Week 1: W vs. No. 78 Texas State (+0.12)
Week 2: W vs. No. 6 Ohio State (+0.79)
Week 3: W vs. No. 51 UTSA (+0.21)
Week 4: W @ No. 17 Tennessee (+0.67)
Week 5: Bye
Resume score: 1.79
2
Alabama Week 1: W vs. No. 91 East Carolina (+0.08)
Week 2: W @ No. 27 Kentucky (+0.50)
Week 3: W vs. No. 53 Florida State (+0.20)
Week 4: W vs. No. 63 South Carolina (+0.16)
Week 5: W @ No. 18 Mississippi State (+0.65)
Resume score: 1.59
3
Miss. State Week 1: W vs. No. 134 Louisiana-Monroe (+0.01)
Week 2: W @ No. 34 Minnesota (+0.43)
Week 3: W @ No. 63 South Carolina (+0.24)
Week 4: W vs. No. 15 Missouri (+0.61)
Week 5: L vs. No. 4 Alabama (-0.16)
Resume score: 1.13
4
Notre Dame Week 1: W vs. No. 31 Wisconsin (Neutral) (+0.42)
Week 2: W vs. No. 115 Rice (+0.03)
Week 3: W vs. No. 77 Michigan State (+0.12)
Week 4: W @ No. 68 Purdue (+0.22)
Week 5: W @ No. 61 North Carolina (+0.25)
Resume score: 1.04
5
Miami (Fla.) Week 1: W @ No. 88 Stanford (+0.15)
Week 2: W vs. FCS Florida A&M (+0.01)
Week 3: W @ No. 24 Wake Forest (+0.56)
Week 4: W vs. No. 125 Central Michigan (+0.02)
Week 5: W @ No. 58 Clemson (+0.27)
Resume score: 1.01
6
Texas Tech Week 1: W vs. FCS Abilene Christian (+0.01)
Week 2: W @ No. 50 Oregon State (+0.31)
Week 3: W vs. No. 26 Houston (+0.41)
Week 4: W vs. No. 124 Sam Houston (+0.02)
Week 5: W @ No. 74 Colorado (+0.20)
Resume score: 0.95
7
Florida Week 1: W vs. No. 89 FAU (+0.09)
Week 2: W vs. FCS Campbell (+0.01)
Week 3: W @ No. 40 Auburn (+0.38)
Week 4: W vs. No. 10 Ole Miss (+0.71)
Week 5: L @ No. 15 Missouri (-0.30)
Resume score: 0.89
T-8
Pittsburgh Week 1: W vs. No. 102 Miami (OH) (+0.06)
Week 2: W vs. No. 56 UCF (+0.19)
Week 3: W vs. No. 72 Syracuse (+0.13)
Week 4: W vs. FCS Bucknell (+0.01)
Week 5: W @ No. 37 Virginia Tech (+0.41)
Resume score: 0.80
T-8
Ole Miss Week 1: W vs. No. 38 Louisville (neutral) (+0.35)
Week 2: W vs. No. 138 Charlotte (+0.01)
Week 3: W vs. No. 9 LSU (+0.73)
Week 4: L @ No. 4 Florida (-0.29)
Week 5: Bye
Resume score: 0.80
10
Ohio State Week 1: W vs. No. 137 Ball State (+0.01)
Week 2: L @ No. 1 Texas (-0.02)
Week 3: W vs. No. 126 Kent State (+0.02)
Week 4: W vs. No. 69 Illinois (+0.14)
Week 5: W @ No. 19 Iowa (+0.64)
Resume score: 0.79
11
BYU Week 1: W vs. FCS Utah Tech (+0.01)
Week 2: W vs. No. 35 Arizona (+0.33)
Week 3: W @ No. 76 Colorado State (+0.19)
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: W @ No. 62 TCU (+0.25)
Resume score: 0.78
12
UCLA Week 1: W @ No. 71 California (+0.21)
Week 2: W vs. No. 65 San Diego State (+0.15)
Week 3: W vs. No. 68 Purdue (+0.14)
Week 4: W @ No. 73 Maryland (+0.20)
Week 5: Bye
Resume score: 0.70
13
Georgia Week 1: W vs. FCS Tennessee State (+0.01)
Week 2: W vs. No. 106 Western Kentucky (+0.05)
Week 3: W @ No. 83 Arkansas (+0.16)
Week 4: W vs. No. 45 Oklahoma (+0.25)
Week 5: W vs. No. 52 Vanderbilt (+0.21)
Resume score: 0.68
14
Oregon Week 1: W vs. No. 25 Boise State (+0.43)
Week 2: L @ No. 21 Oklahoma State (-0.39)
Week 3: W vs. FCS Portland State (+0.01)
Week 4: W @ No. 20 USC (+0.62)
Week 5: Bye
Resume score: 0.67
15
Indiana Week 1: W vs. No. 75 North Texas (+0.12)
Week 2: W vs. FCS Howard (+0.01)
Week 3: W vs. No. 106 Western Kentucky (+0.05)
Week 4: W vs. No. 30 Northwestern (+0.37)
Week 5: W @ No. 100 Rutgers (+0.11)
