TCU, Baylor not among top 4 in first College Football Playoff rankings
NEW YORK (AP) -- Clemson, LSU, Ohio State and Alabama are the top four teams in the first College Football Playoff selection committee rankings of the season.
Notre Dame was fifth and Baylor was sixth on Tuesday night.
Clemson, LSU and Ohio State are among 11 unbeaten teams in FBS, nearly quadruple the number there was last season when the committee started ranking teams. Alabama and Notre Dame each have one loss.
Memphis was the highest ranked team from a Group of Five conference at No. 13.
Last year the top four teams in the first playoff rankings were Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn and Mississippi. Only the Seminoles reached the playoff. Ohio State, the eventual national champion, was 16th in the first rankings.
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Takeaways from the first playoff rankings.
LOVIN' `BAMA
The committee really warmed up to the Crimson Tide.
Alabama lost to Mississippi in September and then Florida pounded Ole Miss in Gainesville. But the Tide landed in playoff position, while Florida was 10th and Ole Miss was 18th.
"Alabama from our point of view had a stronger schedule in the games they have won," said selection committee chairman Jeff Long, the athletic director at Arkansas. "They have three wins against teams with better than .500 records. They're close even though they may be separated by a number of ranking spots."
If you think Alabama is positioned to simply win out and get in the playoff, think again.
Ole Miss is still in control of the SEC West race, so Alabama will need the Rebels to lose just to reach the SEC championship game. At 11-1 with no conference championship, Alabama is likely to get jumped by teams that do win conference titles, including whichever team wins the SEC.
The committee is told to emphasize conference championships, especially when teams have similar resumes.
Remember the committee showed last year it does not lock teams into positions. Florida State dropped while not losing and TCU was third going into the last weekend of the season and finished sixth, despite blowing out Iowa State.
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WAITING ON THE BIG 12
The Big 12 has four teams (Baylor, No. 8 TCU, No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 15 Oklahoma) in the top 15 and they all play each other in November.
Long said it was difficult to judge the strength of those teams because their big games are still to come. The good news for the Power Five conference that got left out of last season's final four is all of those teams are in good shape to get in the playoff if they win out.
The bad news is one loss by the Big 12 champion might keep it out of the playoff.
Baylor, again, played a terribly weak nonconference schedule, and Oklahoma State did the same. TCU's best nonconference opponent was Minnesota, which is struggling.
If you're looking for this season's Ohio State, which went from 16th in the first poll to making the playoff, Oklahoma is a good pick.
If the Sooners can sweep TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State down the stretch, they would have a strong late statement.
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