The first College Football Playoff ranking is out and there is one small surprise

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The first College Football Playoff ranking is out and the Alabama Crimson Tide are No. 1.

Alabama is followed by Clemson, Michigan, and Texas A&M. The first teams on the outside, looking in, are Washington (No. 5) and Ohio State (No. 6).

The biggest surprise is Texas A&M being ranked fourth, ahead of Washington. The Aggies are ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll after having lost 33-14 to Alabama. Washington is 8-0 and is the only undefeated Power-5 conference team that is not among the top four.

Interestingly, this ranking includes two teams from the SEC’s West division, Alabama and Texas A&M, and only one of those teams can play in the SEC championship game. The playoff committee has shown in the past that they put a lot of weight on winning conference championships.

This suggests that the current ranking says more about where the committee thinks the teams are now as opposed to where the committee believes the teams will end up. In other words, don’t expect both Alabama and Texas A&M to be in the playoff even if both win all of their remaining games and Washington probably still controls their own destiny.

Here is what the playoff would look like if the season were to end today (via ESPN). The full top-25 can be seen below.

ESPN

Here is the full ranking:

College Football Playoff