Louisiana football cracks to top-20 in the latest College Football Playoff ranking, moving up to 19th Tuesday night, up six spots after beating Appalachian State on the road.
Coastal Carolina jumped five spots to 13th after beating BYU in an impromptu meeting in Conway.
While the top six spots held steady, Iowa State's move to number seven raised many questions, particularly from those around the Sun Belt. The Cyclones have two losses, including one to the Cajuns at 31-14.
Coastal and Louisiana fans argue there should be a much slimmer margin between the two Sun Belt schools, and the Big12's top team. The Sun Belt is 3-0 this season head-to-head with the Big12, while Coastal (10-0) remains unbeaten with two wins over top-25 teams, while Louisiana (9-1) is 1-1 against top-25 teams, that one loss coming to Coastal.
College Football Playoff chair Gary Barta was asked about using strength of wins in determining rankings, and how that applied to Coastal Carolina.
"Well, each week is a new evaluation, and obviously this week Coastal -- we had a data point, a game to watch, and I would just tell you that as a college football fan, watching that Coastal Carolina-BYU game was exciting," he said Tuesday night. "What a thrill. They were ranked lower than the team they beat in BYU, and they moved up several spots as a result of that victory. They were able to run the ball. They were able to contain -- slow down BYU's offense. Nobody can stop it. And they won the game. The committee put them at 13 based on that performance and the performance leading up to that, and I won't project further than that. We'll just wait and see next week what we have to evaluate."
Coastal plays Troy before meeting Louisiana in the Sun Belt Championship. The Cajuns are off until that game on December 19th.
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