First edition of 2024 College Football Playoff The rankings were as follows clarified While nothing is official about Tuesday night’s month-long game, it still gives us a meaningful look at the committee’s thought process in this brave new 12-team world. Some teams shouldn’t have anything to worry about as long as they’re running their own business: If you’re a one-loss team from the Big 10 or the SEC, you’re probably in pretty good shape. But others have learned the hard way that they can be left out in the cold when all is said and done.

Most of all, the first rankings showed us how crowded the competition for large slots will be. The expanded 12-team field offers greater access to the national championship than ever before. But ditching the automatic bids for the conference’s top five champions inevitably means that some teams that qualify but fail to win the conference title will be rejected, even if their resumes say they should have gotten in.

Initial CFP ranking: 15

The season-opening defeat to USC put the Tigers behind the 8-ball; Take a third loss and this call is moot. But it’s not hard to imagine LSU winning: Brian Kelly’s team is playing three of its last four games at home, with a lone trip to Florida in between. Take care of the talented but flawed ones AlabamaYou’re looking at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma teams and a 10-2 team with a number of marquee wins in the nation’s deepest conference.

However, even this may not be enough. LSU not playing Georgia, Texas or a tiebreaker against Tennessee and Texas A&M. Even if they win, they likely won’t reach the SEC championship game, in which case they may well end up on the wrong side of the bubble when all is said and done. Beating the Crimson Tide would clear a hurdle, but what happens if, say, Iowa State or Kansas State hands BYU its first defeat in the Big 12 championship game? Will the committee reject the one-loss Cougars team in favor of two-loss LSU?

Initial CFP ranking: 16

You could make many of the same arguments for Ole Miss, except the Rebels are even less in control of their own destiny than LSU. Lane Kiffin and Co. have a clear chance at a win against Georgia this Saturday, but even that might not be enough to earn an at-large berth. If both LSU and Texas A&M also win, Ole Miss will be out of the conference title game and there may be no room left for them in the 12-team CFP field when the music stops in the conference standings. They are already behind two-loss SEC teams in Alabama, A&M and LSU, and there may not be enough track to make up that kind of ground unless the committee takes necessary action. Really Awards hypothetically winning the Dawgs. And even then, the teams ahead of the Rebels all have opportunities to add ranked wins themselves.

Initial CFP ranking: 13

Arguably no team is more right in their fight with the committee than the Mustangs, who have an extremely justified upset (which was in an extremely unstable relationship with BYU at home before sorting out the quarterback situation) and convincing wins at top-25 Louisville and Louisville I can’t be. Pittsburgh And yet, despite this solid resume, SMU finds itself ranked 13th, on the wrong side of the big bubble if the playoffs begin today.

At this point, it’s hard to see a path for Rhett Lashlee’s team that doesn’t include winning the ACC and earning an automatic bid. Even an upset in the conference championship game (presumably undefeated Miami) would put the Mustangs behind not only teams like Alabama and Notre Dame (teams that were already ahead despite less impressive resumes), but also other SEC teams like A&M, LSU, and Ole. It will sting. Lady, it depends on what the rest of their schedules are like. Whatever the reason, the committee isn’t very impressed with what the other two Power 4 conferences have to offer this season, and it looks like SMU will be the first team when all is said and done.