The Selection Committee shocked everybody with their inaugural College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, and in the process they sent a clear message to everybody else: Strength of Schedule matters.
That was obviously proven by their decision to put the Alabama Crimson Tide in at No. 4 despite having a loss on their resume.
These were just the first rankings, so lots of things are going to change over the next four weeks anyway, but it was a good starting point to see what the criteria is going to be for everybody in that room.
Based on our calculations, there are 27 teams that technically, somehow, could still squeak into the College Football Playoff with four weeks left in the season.