Ohio State, QB Barrett (left) surge

Overcoming Penn State brings jump in poll

Finally, the moment we’ve all awaited is about to arrive. No, not Halloween. But on Tuesday, 13 members of the College Football Playoff selection committee will hand us their first Top 25.

Then all of college football will descend into a howling maelstrom because how could they have missed this? Who in their right mind thinks that ranking makes sense?

None of it matters right now. In its desire to promote conversation, the CFP has created this process of weekly rankings it insists are meaningless until Dec. 3, when the actual Playoff field is picked. And beyond that, a funny thing is about to happen to college football. It’s called November.

But come Tuesday, we’ll all get angry. We’ll take what we’ve seen so far, shine up the talking points that make our team look best (or the other guys look worst), fast-forward everything to the end of the season as though nothing much could change, and then present our case very, very loudly.

With that, here’s a preview of what we’re going to hear in the next few days.

Alabama and Georgia are likely to be ranked Nos. 1 and 2 (maybe not in that order). Which, of course, only means the Southeastern will definitely have two teams in the Playoff ! Because how could a 12-1 Georgia, coming off a competitive loss to a 13-0 Alabama, get left out?

Pay no attention to the actual SEC schedules being played by both teams, which are not stout. It’s all about the eye test, y’all — and anyone can see these teams are flat good.

It’s an absolute travesty to have Ohio State ranked ahead of Oklahoma, which dominated the Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 9!

Or from the other side: What are you talking about? Since that loss, the Buckeyes have played better than anyone — certainly better than Oklahoma, which has lurched to most of its victories. Never mind what actually happened, who do you think would win now?

Notre Dame! What?! The Fighting Irish are overhyped just like always!

We’re sympathetic to this line of screaming. But this Notre Dame team was actually underrated (we know, but it’s true) coming off a 4-8 season. It didn’t really begin to move up the rankings in the polls until the blowout defeat of Southern California.

Some of this is actually fear that an 11-1 Notre Dame might make the Playoff field, meaning (at least) two Power Five conferences would get left out. That’s a very real possibility. At the least, it would pose a very difficult challenge in the final rank- ings for the selection committee, which is charged with valuing conference championships when comparing similar teams.

Look at the sheer disrespect for unbeatens Wisconsin and Miami (Fla.). How can they possibly be stuck behind all these one-loss teams?

It’s not Wisconsin’s fault the Badgers occupy the Big Ten West. But beating up on a pillowy soft schedule doesn’t tell us much. Good news: The Badgers are a good bet to roll unbeaten into the Big Ten championship game, where it would essentially be a one-game playoff for the Playoff.

And Miami? The Hurricanes keep winning, somehow. That’s the most important thing. But get back to us after Virginia Tech on Saturday and Notre Dame next week. Still perfect then? Welcome into the Top 4.

What do you mean, one-loss Penn State’s Playoff hopes are in big trouble? We saw Ohio State get in after losing to Penn State last year, and the Buckeyes didn’t win their division!

True enough. And none of the oneloss teams is out of anything (see below). But if Penn State finishes 11-1 without winning the Big Ten, its best win would be against ... who? It would take complete chaos to see the Nittany Lions in the four-team bracket ahead of conference champions.

The Big 12 is out of it ... and the

Pac-12 is, too.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU all have one loss, which means the league that fears getting left out of the Playoff more than any other has no margin for error. If Oklahoma wins out, it’s probably in. The other two? Hmmm. They might need help.

And the Pac-12? It’s down to one-loss Washington, which is still in search of a signature victory. The conference is in big trouble.

But this is all meaningless! True. As a reminder, here’s a look at the initial rankings in each of the first three seasons of the Playoff:

2014: 1) Mississippi State, 2) *Florida State, 3) Auburn, 4) Mississippi

2015: 1) *Clemson, 2) LSU, 3) Ohio State, 4) *Alabama

2016: 1) *Alabama, 2) *Clemson, 3) Michigan, 4) Texas A&M

Five teams in those initial rankings eventually made the Playoff field (indicated by asterisks). But that means seven did not (and for fun, Google where some of those in the initial Top 4 finished).

Five of the eventual Playoff participants were ranked 5, 6 or 7 in the first rankings. Only No. 16 Ohio State in 2014 and No. 15 Oklahoma in 2015 came from outside the initial Top 7.

So when everyone starts howling at their TV on Tuesday, go ahead and count to 10 and remind yourself:

November is coming.