The College Football Playoff selection committee did its best to enhance the hype surrounding this weekend’s Alabama-LSU game by putting both teams in the top four — LSU at No. 2 and Alabama at No. 4 — of the group’s first rankings of the season.
It was as if the committee was teasing SEC fans, though; following Saturday’s game, the losing team seems likely to fall out of the top four. It’s like offering congratulations one moment, then saying “see ya” the next.
What was made clear in the committee’s first ranking was this: Strength of schedule matters and it doesn’t matter if you win all your games by a kabillion points if those opponents don’t measure up.