Five surprises from the first College Football Playoff rankings



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“When you look at [Notre Dame] against LSU, though, LSU is the only team in the country with six wins against teams above .500,” committee chair Rob Mullens said. “That includes wins over No. 6 Georgia, a ranked Mississippi State team, and their only loss is a road loss, close road loss at Florida.”

Notre Dame has three wins against teams with winning records and beat Stanford handily at home. Another of those wins is over No. 5 Michigan. And the Irish haven’t lost. LSU has. There’s a good case to be made that Notre Dame should be ahead of LSU. But at the same time this is a debate that may only go on until Saturday when LSU plays Alabama.

“Quality wins at Florida and then a win over Mississippi State, both ranked teams, and Kentucky has an outstanding defense,” Mullens said. “They’ve found a way to win, and their only loss is to a CFP-ranked team in overtime. Kentucky has a quality résumé.”

“Found a way to win” is key. Kentucky has barely beaten Vanderbilt and Missouri.

ISU’s losses have come to Iowa, Oklahoma and TCU. The first two are excusable. That TCU loss really isn’t, especially with the way the Horned Frogs have fallen apart over the month of October. Iowa State may end up with eight or nine wins. But there are some deserving teams like Utah State (and another team we’ll get to) that should have been in the top 25.

As Pete Thamel noted Tuesday night, UCF is starting five spots higher than it did in 2017. But its playoff hopes are still slim.

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