Ohio State No. 1
Ohio state sits atop first playoff rankings; Penn State in at No. 4.
NEW YORK — Two from the Big Ten. Two from the Southeastern Conference. And the undefeated defending national champions on the outside looking in — for now.
Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Penn State were the top four teams Tuesday night in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s first rankings of the season.
Next up was Clemson, winner of two of the past three playoffs, followed by Georgia and Oregon. The 13member committee will produce four more weekly top 25s before the only one that counts comes out Dec. 8.
The semifinals will be held this season at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., and the Peach Bowl in Atlanta Dec. 28. The national championship game is Jan. 13 in New Orleans.
The top four in the selection committee’s initial rankings have never all reached the semifinals in the playoff’s five-year history. Eleven of the 20 teams that started in the top four of the CFP rankings have reached the playoff, but, oddly, never the team ranked third.
The highest-ranked team among Group of Five conference schools was Cincinnati out of the American Athletic Conference at No. 20. The top team from outside the Power Five conferences gets a New Year’s Six bowl bid.
It was hard to call anything a surprise — or all that important — in the first rankings, but Clemson being out of the top four was notable.
The good news for the Tigers is the teams in front of them have to play one another. LSU is at Alabama Saturday. The teams are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the AP Top 25 but are second and third in the CFP rankings.
Ohio State and Penn State face off Nov. 23. The Nittany Lions also face a challenge this week when they visit unbeaten Minnesota, which was ranked 17th by the committee.
As long as Clemson keeps winning, the Tigers should be OK.
What could really turn the race inside out, of course, are upsets. With four weeks left before championship weekend when the playoff and bowl game berths are set, unranked teams have opportunities to provide po- tential twists and turns:
• Week 11: Iowa State at No. 9 Oklahoma. The Cyclones came into the season ranked and were considered maybe the third-best team in
ig 12. TThehse elogyos lyoou sfortuse three times, but by a combined 10 points. If the Sooners were to take a second loss, suddenly Baylor becomes not just the best playoff hope for the Big 12, but maybe the only one.
• Week 12: UCLA at No. 8 Utah. The Bruins have won three consecutive games after a terrible start and are still in control of their Pac-12 South championship hopes. The Utes have been dominant, but coach Chip Kelly could turn this into his first signature win at UCLA and ruin the Pac-12’s hope of a Utah-Oregon title game matching 11-1 teams.
Penn State at Indiana. The Hoosiers are on their way to their best season in 15 years, and they will face the Nittany Lions after Minnesota and before Ohio State.
• Week 13: Texas A&M at Georgia. The Aggies already have faced Alabama and Clemson. The Bulldogs might be more at their level. Another loss would all but eliminate the Bulldogs.
• Week 14: Texas A&M at LSU. If LSU is No. 1, this would be the third topranked team the Aggies have faced this season.