Dan Lanning says he won’t spend time worrying about them. Lincoln Riley says they’ll get 1% of his energy. Chip Kelly thought they were already out.

We have our first set of College Football Playoff rankings, and though the teams hoping to lead the Pac-12 back to the field of four for the first time since 2016 say it doesn’t move the needle for them much, we now know how the selection committee values the Pac-12 and we have something to argue about for the next week. 

The initial CFP rankings were unveiled live on ESPN Tuesday evening. Oregon was the Pac-12’s highest-ranked team, checking in at No. 8. USC ranked ninth, UCLA 12th, Utah 14th, and Oregon State 23rd. 

Here’s the Top 25:

  1. Tennessee
  2. Ohio State
  3. Georgia
  4. Clemson
  5. Michigan
  6. Alabama
  7. TCU
  8. Oregon
  9. USC
  10. LSU
  11. Ole Miss
  12. UCLA
  13. Kansas State
  14. Utah
  15. Penn State
  16. Illinois
  17. North Carolina
  18. Oklahoma State
  19. Tulane
  20. Syracuse
  21. Wake Forest
  22. NC State
  23. Oregon State
  24. Texas
  25. UCF

Teams ranked outside the top 10 in the initial rankings have made the field only twice in the CFP’s history — No. 16 Ohio State in 2014 and No. 15 Oklahoma in 2015. Since then, the lowest-ranked team in the initial set of rankings was slotted at No. 9.

No two-loss team has ever made the field. No one-loss Power Five champion has been left out.

This year’s selection committee is made up of 13 people in total — eight of whom have collegiate playing experience, including some sitting athletic directors. There is one woman: former USA Today sportswriter Kelly Whiteside. NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan is serving as the CFP chair.

Selection committee members are rotated every three years, and this season features four new faces. The group is directed through written protocol to consider strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and outcomes against common opponents.