Football Fans Fume as USC Hoops Delays CFP Rankings

With a scheduled start time of 7 p.m. ET, college football fans flocked to ESPN to see the latest release of the College Football Playoff Top 25, as chosen by the selection committee. Instead, they were greeted by a tight men’s basketball game between USC and Seton Hall at the Maui Invitational—one that had most of the second half to go before it would end.

The game followed an 81–70 win for NC State over Boise State, and because of delays in the game typical of college hoops games and the break between contests, ESPN’s schedule of programming wound up being pretty significantly backed up. USC would ultimately come out on top, avoiding overtime with an 83–81 win in Maui.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with some good college hoops during “feast week,” but for fans of programs like Oregon, Notre Dame, Miami and BYU who were excitedly awaiting the latest rankings, the delay—which lasted nearly 50 minutes—was a real issue.

Plenty of college football-focused folks had some words for ESPN about the scheduling mishap.

After the lengthy delay, the rankings were updated—though as expected, the shake-ups after a relatively chalk-y Week 13 were minimal. There is some good news for Miami, which likely still needs some help to get into the field with its back against the wall for an ACC championship bid, and a Michigan team set to try and keep Ohio State winless in The Game in the 2020s (which would give the Wolverines a very interesting résumé at 10–2).

The updated CFP Top 25 is available here.

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