Alabama and Clemson just played for college football's championship earlier this week. Those two teams are atop the early projections for 2016 as well. Your Pitt Panthers? Not so much.
Pitt briefly climbed into the rankings this season for the first time in several years. However, the Panthers are on the outside looking in according to the early rankings for next year. ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, CBS Sports, and Athlon all left Pitt out of their Top 25 polls following the championship game.
Pitt being on the outside isn't a big surprise.