The Fighting Irish are without a doubt one of the four best teams in the country, despite struggling with lesser opponents thus far.

First Official CFP Rankings - What the Committee got Right and What they got Wrong

Right:

1. The Top Four

No matter how you cut it or how you rank them, the committee got the top four correct. You can debate about whether Alabama deserves the top spot or not based on their competition thus far, or whether LSU should be flipped with Notre Dame, but at the end of the day, Alabama, Clemson, LSU, and Notre Dame are the four best in college football to this point. LSU has five wins already against teams with winning records, the Irish have a win way back in week 1 over current # 5 Michigan, plus a route of Viriginia Tech on the road, and Bama and Clemson have absolutely destroyed their competition to this point.

The Crimson Tide are blowing out opponents by 38 pts per contest - can anyone slow them down?

2. Alabama and Clemson

I've heard a lot of interesting arguments over the past couple of days, many of which center around who should be # 1 and who should be # 2. The Crimson Tide are beating their opponents by an average margin of 38 points - yes 38 points per game and Clemson isn't too far behind, trailing Bama by a touchdown and outscoring their opponents by 31 per contest. Neither has played that tough of a schedule to date, especially with the ACC in the middle of a perceived down year. The SEC is just not as tough this season as year's past. Auburn, Mississippi St., and A&M all have 3 losses already and the schedule only gets tougher. The SEC East with Georgia, Florida, and an upstart 7-1 Kentucky may be better than the West for a change where its Alabama and LSU once again and then everyone else kind of beating up on one another. All of that being said, it is incredibly difficult to come up with an argument against Alabama and Clemson being the two best teams in the nation - to this point.

Wrong:

McKenzie Milton and UCF are trying to figure out what kind of hoops to jump through to finally make an impression on the committee.

1. Central Florida

What the heck do the Knights have to do to get some love from the CFP committee? They went undefeated a season ago and were insulted on a weekly basis by the committee by never even cracking the top 15 until the very final rankings of last season. This season? They are one of only 4 undefeated teams to this point on the year at 7-0, and behind only the two best teams in the land when it comes to point differential - winning there games by over 27 points per contest. McKenzie Milton is without a doubt one of the best QBs in the country, getting it done both through the air (1797yds, 16TD, 4INT) and on the ground (204yds, 6TD). Putting them at # 12 and behind a 2-loss Florida team just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Luckily the Knights have several opportunities to bolster their resume at the close of the season, starting tomorrow night against a 5-3 Temple squad that seems to be peaking as of late. Their final two games are against a pair of 7-1 teams that have both been ranked recently in Cincinnati and South Florida. Win out and it is going to be increasingly difficult for the committee to continue to turn a half blind eye to the Knights.

The 7-1 Cougars are a surprise omission from the committee's initial CFP rankings.

2. No love for the Group of 5

In addition to UCF checking in at only # 12, there was hardly any love shown to anyone residing outside of one of the "Power 5" Conferences in the initial CFP rankings. Only # 23 Fresno State joins UCF as the only two teams from a Group of 5 Conference. The omission of Houston is a little surprising, the Cougars clearly have one of the best defensive lines in college football and are now 7-1 after thrashing a previously unbeaten and ranked South Florida squad. Their average margin of victory in their 7 victories is 24.6 pts. This is a good football team who has been able to answer any questions about the offense from the beginning of the season. Their # 17 rank in the polls is well-deserved and so too is Utah St. being ranked. The Aggies are also 7-1 and have demolished opponents as well including a 45-20 beatdown of a BYU team that was ranked at the time. It's a little surprising to not see either of these teams included in the initial rankings, proving once again, that the playoff is truly not for everyone but just the power conferences. Hopefully the committee will prove me wrong in the coming weeks.