East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State is ranked No. 3 in the initial College Football Playoff ranking, released Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s reveal marked the highest Michigan State has been in the CFP rankings since being No. 3 heading into the College Football Playoffs in 2015.
The Spartans are one of only four Power Five conference teams with an unbeaten record, joining No. 1 Georgia, No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Wake Forest.
The CFP selection committee placed Michigan at No. 7, which means only Michigan State, Oregon, No. 4 at 7-1, and Cincinnati, No. 6 at 8-0, hold victories over a current Top 10 team.
Michigan State is coming off a 37-33 victory over Michigan on Saturday in which the Spartans rallied from a 30-14 deficit to defeat its rival.
Oregon has a 35-28 victory over No. 5 Ohio State (7-1) on Sept. 11 and No. 6 Cincinnati has a 24-13 victory over Notre Dame on Oct. 2.
“We look at what’s happened so far, we don’t project ahead,” said Gary Barta, Iowa’s athletic director and Chair of the CFP Selection Committee. “There was a lot of consensus for Alabama to be No. 2. After that, we probably spent a few hours yesterday and this morning working through No. 3 to No. 9 because there were so many ways to approach it.
“We put them in bunches but then we vote on them in larger chunks. What I mean by that is we will look at Michigan State, Oregon, Ohio State, Cincinnati all at once, and then we add Michigan and Oklahoma and we go through that process. Then ultimately you vote for your top six and then the averages of everybody come out and Michigan State made its way to No. 3 through that process.
“But Michigan State, they are still undefeated. They have that big win against Michigan this past weekend. They were behind, as everybody knows. They didn’t panic. They came back and beat a very good Michigan team, so that’s how they ended up at No. 3.”
Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne said a team meeting was scheduled for Tuesday evening with some former players at the hour that the rankings were revealed. Thorne indicated that there were no plans at that time for the Spartans to watch the rankings show live.
“What’s important is what we do next,” Thorne said Tuesday afternoon at the Skandalaris Center. “No one is going to remember a team for just its first eight games of the season. We have done or job so far but we still have four games ahead of us and hopefully a few more after that.”
The Spartans will play at Purdue (5-3) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Kenneth Walker III, who has emerged as the perceived leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, joined ESPN’s CFP ranking show.
“It’s a blessing to see us ranked No. 3,” said Walker, who wore a white Michigan State polo with a Spartan head logo on it during the interview. “We put a lot of work in, in the off-season, in winter workouts, spring camp. But we have a tough opponent coming up this weekend and that’s where our focus is right now.”
Walker was asked by host Rece Davis how the team was able to come together and gel with many transfers on the team.
“I think Coach Tuck does a great job with that,” Walker said. “Even when we first got here, he got us in a meeting and asked us things like what helps us academics-wise and what helps us sports-wise on the field and I believe that helped us bond together.”
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit asked how Michigan State was able to stage a comeback from a 30-14 deficit against Michigan.
“We talk about keep chopping all the time, through adversity or whatever,” Walker said. “What’s unique for us is we never stop fighting and I believe that’s what helped us get that victory.”
When asked about the presence of Walker’s former team, Wake Forest, at No. 9 in the initial rankings, Walker smiled.
“That’s exciting,” Walker said. “I’m happy for them. I still talk to a lot of my boys back at Wake. I’m proud of them.”
