College Football Playoff rankings: 3 teams ranked too high and 3 ranked too low

We made it, folks. Not to the actual College Football Playoff — that's still a few months out — but we made it to the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year. And you'll be shocked to learn that the Selection Committee made some questionable decisions in the first edition of the CFP rankings. A few teams are ranked too high, a few teams are ranked too low and a few teams aren't ranked at all that probably should be. Here are the rankings and the biggest misses by the committee on a big night in college football.

College Football Playoff Rankings

1. Oregon Ducks
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Miami Hurricanes
5. Texas Longhorns
6. Penn State Nittany Lions
7. Tennessee Volunteers
8. Indiana Hoosiers
9. BYU Cougars
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
11. Alabama Crimson Tide
12. Boise State Broncos
13. SMU Mustangs
14. Texas A&M Aggies
15. LSU Tigers
16. Ole Miss Rebels
17. Iowa State Cyclones
18. Pittsburgh Panthers
19. Kansas State Wildcats
20. Colorado Buffaloes
21. Washington State Cougars
22. Louisville Cardinals
23. Clemson Tigers
24. Missouri Tigers
25. Army Black Knights

Missouri at 24 is still way too high

We're starting to think that no one is actually watching Missouri football, because in what world should they be ranked ahead of Army? It seems like Missou's win against Vanderbilt is doing a lot of heavy lifting right now because that's the only impressive victory on the Tigers schedule. If this team was 6-2 with a few ranked wins and a few close high-level losses, this ranking would make a little more sense. That's not what their resume looks like at all! Missouri has lost to Alabama and Texas A&M by a combined 65 points, and (with all due respect) beating Murray State, Buffalo and Boston College shouldn't hold a ton of weight in CFP rankings.

Army being ranked No. 25 is far too low

The Black Knights leapt up to No. 18 in the AP Poll this week, and that felt like a pretty fair spot for this team to land after improving to 8-0, the most recent win coming without star quarterback Bryson Daily. But the CFP Selection Committee thought that was far too high, apparently, instead ranking Army 25th.

Notre Dame is a bit too high at No. 10

Maybe a tiny bit too generous. Notre Dame has a couple of nice wins against Navy and Louisville but also the worst loss among any top 10 teams against Northern Illinois. This is a good football team — Notre Dame has been crushing teams recently — but the overall resume isn't super impressive, with its other four wins coming against Georgia Tech, Miami (OH), Stanford and Purdue. This team will likely deserve to be in the CFP bracket by season's end, but they haven't earned it just yet.

Washington State is too low at No. 21

We can't fully blame you for forgetting about Washington State in a season it doesn't have a conference, but they're 7-1 and that sole loss was to a Boise State team that is currently ranked at number 12 (which might also be too low!) Wazzu doesn't have any huge wins but it beat Texas Tech and Washington so it has shown it can hang with Power 4 teams.

Not having a conference means Wazzu needs an at-large big to make the field, and being at No. 21 right now could make that tough for the Cougars who don't have any ranked opponents left on the schedule.

Penn State is way too high at No. 6

The Nittany Lions staying ahead of a team like Indiana (which is 8-0, by the way) is a little silly coming off a loss, especially when Penn State's resume wasn't even super strong before this weekend. At all, really. Penn State doesn't have a single top 25 win, and its best win this season was probably against Illinois, which has fallen apart in recent weeks.

Penn State's path to the CFP is pretty clear, but staying at six despite a loss and a weak schedule is a miss by the committee. Switching the Nittany Lions and the Hoosiers would make a lot more sense. No. 8 would be an okay spot for Indiana if there wasn't a clearly worse team in front of it. Penn State is clearly worse.

SMU is too low at No. 13

While Notre Dame's best win is aginst Louisville, beating the Cardinals is only SMU's second-best victory, and the Mustangs sole loss is to a BYU team that is currently slated to receive a first-round bye in the CFP. How is that not a good enough resume to warrant a top-12 seed right now?

Of course, if SMU makes the ACC Championship game, it's a near-lock for the CFP no matter where it's ranked tonight.