College football fans react to College Football Playoff rankings on social media

The first College Football Playoff rankings are in and social media was full of outrage.

There wasn’t a whole lot of drama and intrigue for the top of the College Football Playoff rankings, but that was saved for the teams outside the top four.

Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State occupied the top four spots in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, which coincides with the same four teams at the top of the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll. However, Ohio State is ahead of Clemson in those polls despite playing four games.

Everyone and their brother was expecting this to be the top four teams, although the order at 3-4 may be different, those things will sort itself out. But the drama begins outside the top four, where it usually does since the advent of the playoff with teams on the outside looking in having the loudest objections.

College Football Playoff rankings

1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Clemson
4. Ohio State
5. Texas A&M
6. Florida
7. Cincinnati
8. Northwestern
9. Georgia
10. Miami
11. Oklahoma
12. Indiana
13. Iowa State
14. BYU
15. Oregon
16. Wisconsin
17. Texas
18. USC
19. North Carolina
20. Coastal Carolina
21. Marshall
22. Auburn
23. Oklahoma State
24. Iowa
25. Tulsa

Social media reacts to the initial College Football Playoff rankings

Teams on the outside that are going to be worth watching over the next few weeks to see how the playoff committee evaluates them are undefeated Cincinnati and BYU from outside the Power 5 conferences. No team outside the Power 5 has ever made the field, including undefeated UCF in 2017, which is a good indication that neither the Bearcats nor the Cougars will make the final foursome.

However, things get interesting for undefeated Northwestern who could upset an undefeated Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. If this outcome happens, the Wildcats will definitely get in.

Would an undefeated Pac-12 champion get in though?

That’s a tougher question because of a smaller schedule than the Big Ten faces, but if Oregon or USC goes undefeated, it could throw a curveball at the committee and force out Notre Dame or Clemson depending on the outcome of the ACC Championship Game and/or Alabama if Florida upsets the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.

There are still a few more weeks for all the chips to fall and the dust to settle and more cliches I can to throw out there, but after the initial College Football Playoff rankings, college football fans and media alike had many thoughts, emotions and feelings on the first batch.

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