CFP rankings: Clemson somehow above TCU, Alabama, Michigan in first top 25

The College Football Playoff Committee released their first rankings of 2022 on Tuesday night, and they've been met with some frustration and confusion by college football fans throughout the country. A group that enters this day each year with the utmost pessimism, and still manages to come out of it disappointed.

The top three make sense right off the bat. You could argue any order for Tennessee-Ohio State-Georgia, and the one they chose isn't too controversial. That is, unfortunately, the last thing they did about which I could say nice things.

Clemson snuck in at No. 4 ahead of Michigan, Alabama, and TCU, despite a myriad of issues they've faced this year. From taking Wake Forest to overtime to benching their starting quarterback against Syracuse, I'm not even sure that fans of the school would agree they look like a semifinal team. Especially with Michigan's recent dominant win over Penn State.

Alabama at No. 6 is understandable, if for no other reason than the committee goes to bed each night with visions of crimson plums dancing in their heads. Alabama is Alabama, and they'll have several chances left to expose themselves this season if they're not actually as good as we think.

But the poor No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs. Four wins in a row over ranked teams, not a single loss, playing with their backup quarterback for most of the season, and not even cracking the final Top 6 graphic panel?? Some on Twitter have pointed out that it's brand bias rather than conference bias – an 8-0 Texas team absolutely gets ranked higher than that. The committee gave a somewhat puzzling reasoning for ranking TCU so low, saying it was because they had to come from behind to win a few games. They also said the Frogs were “not a balanced team” despite being No. 4 in SP+ offense and No. 8 in defense.

The best of the rest: Is LSU at No. 10 meant to beef up Alabama's or Tennessee's schedule? Maybe. But they have won some big ones lately. Illinois and Tulane fans are just happy to be here, and fifth-in-the-Big 12 Texas at No. 24 is certainly a choice!

There's always next week, in which our hopes will secretly build that the committee will agree with our own opinions – not that we'd ever admit those hopes, of course. Check back in next Tuesday to see how Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama fare after big games on Saturday.

  
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