AP Top 25: 3 teams to be ranked higher in College Football Playoff rankings, 3 lower

Beginning on Tuesday night, we will have a new set of college football rankings to worry about. While the AP Top 25 Poll has sufficed for the first two thirds of the season, the only thing that matters is what the College Football Playoff Selection Committee thinks in a little over a month. Over the first 10 years of this postseason format, we have seen the Selection Committee rank differently than the AP.

Whenever the first College Football Playoff rankings drop, we are usually flabbergasted at how they initially made a mockery of the rankings. Then again, they have not been wrong even one time when it came to getting the four best teams in during the first 10 runs of this. Now the playoff field will be expanding thrice-fold to 12, leaving more possibilities of someone good potentially getting snubbed.

Without delay, here is what the AP Top 25 Poll looks like heading into the second week of November.

1. Oregon Ducks (9-0) (1,550 points, 62 first-place votes)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (7-1) (1,449 points)
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1) (1,442 points)
4. Miami Hurricanes (9-0) (1,348 points)
5. Texas Longhorns (7-1) (1,310 points)
6. Penn State Nittany Lions (7-1) (1,158 points)
7. Tennessee Volunteers (7-1) (1,150 points)
8. Indiana Hoosiers (9-0) (1,123 points)
9. BYU Cougars (8-0) (1,084 points)
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-1) (1,066 points)
11. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2) (867 points)
12. Boise State Broncos (7-1) (853 points)
13. SMU Mustangs (8-1) (752 points)
14. LSU Tigers (6-2) (707 points)
15. Texas A&M Aggies (7-2) (662 points)
16. Ole Miss Rebels (7-2) (653 points)
17. Iowa State Cyclones (7-1) (592 points)
18. Army Black Knights (8-0) (468 points)
19. Clemson Tigers (6-2) (447 points)
20. Washington State Cougars (7-1) (351 points)
21. Colorado Buffaloes (6-2) (234 points)
22. Kansas State Wildcats (7-2) (227 points)
23. Pittsburgh Panthers (7-1) (203 points)
24. Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3) (130 points)
25. Louisville Cardinals (6-3) (115 points)

And here is every other team that received at least one vote from the Associated Press this week.

• Missouri Tigers (81 points)
• South Carolina Gamecocks (58 points)
• Tulane Green Wave (41 points)
• UNLV Rebels (9 points)
• Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (9 points)
• Washington Huskies (4 points)
• Arizona State Sun Devils (3 points)
• Iowa Hawkeyes (2 points)
• Texas Tech Red Raiders (2 points)

Let's unpack what keen differences may exist between the AP Top 25 Poll and the playoff rankings.

BYU Cougars may be ranked higher than No. 9 in playoff rankings

I have gone back and forth over this, but hear me out. While I would fully expect for BYU to be the first No. 4 seed occupying the Big 12's automatic qualifier spot, nobody in their right mind is going to rank the Cougars top-four initially. That being said, I have a feeling that their 8-0 may be compelling enough in the eyes of the Selection Committee to be a spot or two higher than being ranked No. 9.

To be fair, we are splitting hairs at this point, as BYU is going to be ranked inside of the top 10 by the Selection Committee no matter what in their first College Football Playoff rankings. At the end of the day, it really will not matter because of the Cougars win the Big 12, they will get a top-four seed. I just wonder if their resume with big wins over SMU and Kansas State would count a little more in the CFP.

There is also a chance BYU being on a bye this past weekend will hurt them a bit in the first rankings.

Georgia Bulldogs may be ranked lower than No. 2 in playoff rankings

While it is abundantly clear that Oregon will be the No. 1 team in the first playoff rankings, as illustrated by the Ducks getting all 62 first-place votes in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, how sure are we that Georgia will retain the No. 2 spot? This is my alma mater and the team I root for, but I would not be the least bit shocked if Georgia starts out being ranked something like third or fourth initially.

What I will say is the Dawgs will occupy one of the first four spots when it comes to the automatic qualifiers. Essentially, I am say there is a chance that Ohio State may end up ranked ahead of them. Given that we have never seen how the Selection Committee operates in a 12-team format, can you definitively say Georgia gets the No. 2 seed over Miami? The Dawgs may be No. 3 across the board.

Georgia is comfortably in the playoff picture, but the Dawgs have played sloppily most of the season.

Ohio State Buckeyes may be ranked higher than No. 3 in playoff rankings

When it comes to assessing the automatic qualifiers, I would suspect that Ohio State will be the first projected No. 5 seed as the highest ranked at-large team. This is because teams like presumably BYU and Miami will be slotted ahead of them, despite being ranked behind them. There is also a chance that Georgia is slotted behind them as well. I could see Ohio State being ranked as high as even No. 2.

In the latest AP Top 25 Poll, Georgia only had seven more points than Ohio State. That just shows how close it is in the mind of the AP voters. Frankly, it may come down to what road win over a top-three team is more impressive: Georgia beating previous No. 1 Texas by multiple scores in Austin or Ohio State defeating previous No. 3 Penn State by a touchdown in Happy Valley? This is going to be close.

What I will say is that Ohio State has not been as varying in its wins than Georgia has up to this point.

Tennessee Volunteers may be ranked lower than No. 7 in playoff rankings

On the most recent episode of False Start, my co-host and FanSided.com colleague Cody Williams said it best: What do we even really know about Tennessee? Well, I think they can run the ball quite well with their fringe Heisman Trophy contender at running back in Dylan Sampson. I also like how complementary its defense can play at all three levels. Nico Iamaleava might be improving as well...

But when it comes down to why I think the Selection Committee may dock Tennessee a spot or two beyond the No. 7 ranking the AP gave them is how listless they can be at times offensively. It cost them dearly vs. Arkansas, who is fighting for their bowl eligibility lives at 5-4. Tennessee nearly lost at home to Florida and needed for Alabama to play with its food to pull of the home upset weeks ago.

Tennessee will be in the playoff field in the first rankings, but the Vols may be one of the last teams in.

Indiana Hoosiers may be ranked higher than No. 8 in playoff rankings

Besides resume, what do the Indiana Hoosiers not have working in their favor? They are 9-0 and one of the last remaining undefeated teams in all of college football. The Hoosiers are off to their best start in program history. We have also seen the College Football Playoff Selection Committee do everything in its power to remove preseason biases from the equation. This would serve Indiana here.

Without question, Indiana will be one of the 12 teams in the playoff after the intitial rankings, probably quite comfortably. But given how effortlessly they seem to be beating up on its opposition, I think there is a chance they could potentially be as high as No. 6 in the initial rankings, possibly even as high as No. 5 in the playoff field. I can think of a few teams ranked ahead of them I would take IU over.

This is the same entity that had Mississippi State at No. 1 in 2014 and had TCU in as a non-champion.

Penn State Nittany Lions may be ranked lower than No. 6 in playoff rankings

This is the one ranking I do not get and I firmly believe will be answered as such in the first College Football Playoff rankings. Penn State is No. 6 in the eyes of the Associated Press. These had to have seen Penn State lose to Ohio State again at home, this time in a very winnable game for the Nittany Lions. They could not score a single offensive touchdown at home in a game vs. their bitter rival!

There are a few teams ranked behind them I think have a more compelling reason to be in the top six. Those would include BYU at No. 9 and Indiana at No. 8, among others. Again, this is all splitting hairs as every team I have mentioned in this post will be ranked inside of the top-12 by the Selection Committee and will very much be part of the playoff conversation during the final five weekends.

I just do not think we can reward Penn State for being utterly toothless vs. a rival days before all this.