College football fans are going wild over the first College Football Playoff rankings

The first edition of the 2024 12-team College Football Playoff rankings has been released and fans are going wild! Yes, the AP Top 25 rankings matter, but the College Football Playoff rankings are what will matter the most as the season heads into its conclusion. What issues do College Football fans have with the inaugural rankings?

In the 12-team playoff, the top 5 highest ranked conference champions will earn automatic bids. The four highest-ranked conference champions are ranked one through four and will get first-round byes. The remaining seven spots will be determined by the highest-ranked teams left. Below are the full rankings and potential matchups.

The top four teams in Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, and Miami seem like the best choices to fill out the top four spots. However, how do fans feel about the rest of the field?

The Crimson Tide came in at No. 11 and they have suffered two losses. Furthermore, one of them came against the then-unranked Vanderbilt Commodores while ranked No. 1. However, Alabama did defeat the Georgia Bulldogs in an absolute thriller back in September.

If the Tide lose to in-conference rival LSU this weekend, that would be three SEC losses for the Tide and their shot at the Playoffs would be over without question.

The No. 8 Indiana Hoosiers are currently 9-0 and 6-0 in conference play with first-year head coach Curt Cignetti at the helm. Sure, the Hoosiers haven't played the best competition thus far, but they've beaten teams pretty handily up to this point. Furthermore, the Hoosiers have a date against No. 2 Ohio State on Nov. 23, so we will see just how real the Hoosiers are.

As for Tennessee, who came in at No. 7, has a solid win against Alabama on its resume, but had a bad loss to an unranked Arkansas team earlier in the season. The Tennessee offense hasn't looked that great in recent weeks, but they continue to squeak out victories.

It's fair to say that the committee favored Tennessee over Indiana due to the Volunteers' big win over the Crimson Tide and playing better competition than the Hoosiers.

Is it really that insane though? Yes, Penn State lost its eighth consecutive game against Ohio State last weekend, but before the loss, the Nittany Lions were undefeated and had solid wins against then-ranked No.19 Illinois and USC on the road (hostile environment). The rest of Penn State's slate is fairly easy (versus Washington, Purdue, Minnesota, and Maryland).

The Nittany Lions just have to win out to make the Playoffs, however, a loss to any of those teams would be the final nail in their Playoff hopes.

The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings are out and it's sure to bring a lot of discussion as we head into Week 11 of the regular season.

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