Ohio State tops Georgia in first CFP rankings because of 'explosive nature of their offense'

The College Football Playoff committee had its work cut out for it as it deliberated the initial top-ranked teams of this season. In fact, all four teams that would make the playoff if the season ended today are undefeated 8-0, so how did the committee decide between undefeated teams like Ohio State and Georgia, for example?

The simple fact of the matter was that Tennessee was the easy shoo-in for No. 1. The Volunteers have a massive game coming up against No. 3 Georgia this weekend, so their true status as the top team in college football will either be proven with a win over UGA or questioned with a loss to the Bulldogs. With that said, Tennessee's resume to this point is unquestionable, with wins over No. 17 Pitt, No. 20 Florida, No. 25 LSU, No. 3 Alabama, and just recently, No. 19 Kentucky.

Differentiating between No. 2 Ohio State and the aforementioned Bulldogs had to have been a bit harder for the committee. OSU is, of course, undefeated, but the Buckeyes only have wins over two ranked opponents so far, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 13 Penn State.

Though the Bulldogs are the defending National Champions, they have only one ranked win and that came against No. 11 Oregon to start the season.

So what was the difference between No. 1 and No. 2?

It's all about offense, baby.

"When you look at the (top) three teams, the two wins with Alabama and at LSU really sealed the day for Tennessee," CFP Committee chairman Boo Corrigan (North Carolina State's athletic director) told ESPN. 

When asked about the difference between OSU and UGA?

"The explosive nature of their offense at Ohio State," he said.

To that point, UGA does have a better offense in terms of yardage, totaling 530.1 per game compared to OSU's 509.3, but the Buckeyes are better in just about every other category. They average 7.75 yards per play to the Bulldogs' 7.24, and 48.9 points per game compared to Georgia's 41.8.

It's not a huge difference, but in a battle for No. 1 versus No. 3, every yard and point counts.