While acknowledging that the initial College Football Playoff top 25 standings are little more than a conversation piece, they do offer a weekly glimpse into the thought processes and decision-making of the 12 people who determine the teams that play for the sport's biggest championship each season.
Sometimes those decisions are confounding. That was the case with the following on Tuesday night when the Playoff selection committee unveiled its first top 25 of the 2015 season.
The committee is a grading agent, not a projecting one. Its decisions are based on evidence, not forecasts. On what has happened, not what might happen.