College Football Playoff Initial Rankings: Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn, and Ole Miss

The College Football Playoff Committee released its first set of rankings tonight. The SEC got three teams in the top four, though, as a practical matter, those teams still have plenty of games against each other.

The initial top 4: (1) Mississippi State (2) Florida State (3) Auburn (4) Ole Miss

The remainder of the top ten teams are (5) Oregon, (6) Alabama, (7) TCU, (8) Michigan State, (9) Kansas State, and (10) Notre Dame.

What does it mean? Well, first, the committee is so far skeptical of Notre Dame’s overall resumé despite the close loss at Florida State. The Irish are down at 10, though just in front of Georgia from the SEC East, who also has one loss.

It’s about who you beat. The top 5 all have a win over another team in the top 10.

Ohio State, meanwhile, apparently isn’t passing the eye test for the committee either and is sitting at #16.