Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Penn State are the top four in the College Football Playoff selection committee's first rankings of the season.
Next up were defending national champion Clemson, Georgia and Oregon. The 13-member committee will produce four more sets of rankings each Tuesday before the only ones that really count come out on selection Sunday, December 8.
"When you watch Ohio State, they have performed at a very consistent level. Very good on both sides of the ball, explosive offensive playmakers, and Chase Young is probably as disruptive of a player as there is in the country," playoff committee chairman Rob Mullens told ESPN.
This is the first time Ohio State has been ranked in the top spot of the playoff rankings. The Buckeyes will host Penn State on November 23.
The top four in the selection committee's initial rankings have never all reached the semifinals in the playoff's five-year history. Eleven of the 20 teams that started in the top four of the CFP rankings have reached the playoff, but, oddly, never the team ranked third.
