:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71689546/1444864494.0.jpg "CFP rankings: What committee's 2022 Championship Week Top 25 means for TCU, USC, LSU, Alabama, others")
The College Football Playoff Committee has made the strongest statement possible to the LSU Tigers: they are not getting in.
LSU suffered their third loss of the season to an under-.500 Texas A&M team during rivalry week and have dropped nine spots to No. 14 on the most recent CFP rankings, effectively barring them from any possible path to the final four. They face Georgia in the SEC Championship Game this weekend, but it appears that even a win there would not improve their case for a CFP bid.
The top four is set with Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and USC, all of whom control their own destinies in their respective conference championship games this weekend. Lurking on the outskirts with high hopes for chaos are Ohio State, Alabama, and Tennessee.
The SEC champion has never been left out of the College Football Playoff, so if LSU does best Georgia, we might be witnessing a first-time exclusion. The Committee also seems to have decided that the ACC is out of the CFP picture at this point, moving Clemson to No. 9 after a loss to South Carolina.