While Polls like the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll are great as they give us a solid idea where each team is ranked Nationally, they no longer matter as much as they once were. The College Football Playoff Committee's vote is the one that matters and on Tuesday Night, the Committee gave us our first look at where they stand on each team.
Going forward the Committee's rankings are how you'll gauge each team and their chances at making the College Football Playoff as its the committee that will decide each team's fate.
The College Football Playoff committee was not as impressed with the LSU Tigers as the AP Poll has been ranking LSU as the 15th ranked team in the country. The Coaches had LSU ranked 13th this week while the AP had LSU ranked 14th.
BREAKING: Initial College Football Playoff Rankings🚨https://t.co/MTD5yvwsOw pic.twitter.com/5RioLyoL2Z
— On3 (@On3sports) November 6, 2024
Despite the low ranking, everything lies in LSU's hands for a few reasons depending how things play out this weekend. The Tigers will get a chance to push one team out of the Playoff picture as the Crimson Tide came in ranked 11th. The Tigers win over Ole Miss remains a massive factor for LSU as the Rebels were right behind LSU as the 16th ranked team.
Ranked ahead of LSU but, also outside of the College Football Playoff picture were Texas A&M and SMU. The Texas A&M Aggies still have a massive game left against the 6th ranked Texas Longhorns which could help LSU if Texas wins that game handing A&M a third loss. SMU will only make the College Football Playoff with a ton of help or by winning the ACC.
One factor that further hurts LSU is the fact that Vanderbilt is not ranked as the Tigers likely won't face another ranked opponent outside of Alabama.
These rankings were always going to be irrelevant for LSU
The LSU Tigers were never going to be thrilled with this set of rankings but, they really don't matter at this point. The Tigers will care a ton more if they can knock off the Alabama Crimson Tide as LSU needs to run the table in order to make the College Football Playoff. The Tigers remain right in the hunt with two losses which is great news as they won't need a ton of help.