#cfp-rankings

#cfp-rankings

The first College Football Playoff rankings came out five weeks ago. They looked a lot like tonight's rankings. We've had precious little movement at the top, with a few teams jockeying up or down a slot, but effectively no seismic shifts in the landscape. BYU and Texas are the only two teams who were projected in the field in the committee's first ranking who aren't now -- and they're just barely on the outside with reasonable arguments for inclusion.

The Notre Dame and the Pittsburgh will start Saturday's action at noon, in a showdown of ranked opponents. Notre Dame has been undefeated since losing their first two games, and has climbed back into the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings. Meanwhile, Pitt has been the No. 11 passing offense since turning to Mason Heintschel at QB, and have won five games in a row to put themselves back in the ACC race.

It's not supposed to care that Vanderbilt hasn't been 7-1 in 84 years. The 12 people in that room will absolutely care, though, that Vanderbilt is 7-1 now -- with back-to-back wins against ranked SEC opponents LSU and Missouri. Vanderbilt -- the story of the season so far -- is on the brink of making its first appearance in any CFP ranking during the playoff era.