CFP rankings: Notre Dame faces sudden death, SEC feeling, and Big Ten close to hitting the panic button

Judging by the chaos we have already seen across this season, it should come as no surprise that the first CFP rankings were just as unpredictable as the product on the field.

The only certainty entering Tuesday nights rankings reveal was that Miami would sit atop the polls after a difficult outing against North Carolina.

Now, with a showdown against No. 8 Notre Dame looming this weekend, this is shaping up to be an elimination game for the No. 11 ranked Fighting Irish.

And let me make it clear for folks out there that are not following on a weekly basis: don't freak out yet, just give it a few weeks.

But yes, you have my permission to start getting extremely nervous about the upcoming weekend, Notre Dame fans. It's clear that the CFP committee is telling Marcus Freeman's squad that they better beat No. 1 Miami on Saturday, or their chances of making the postseason will be hinging on others losing.

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Don't forget, this is the final season for a twelve-team playoff, with an expansion to 24-teams coming next year as ESPN and CFP finalize their new television agreement.

As for what happens within the SEC, well they came out smelling pretty nice after spending the entire offseason emphasizing strength of schedule metrics. Now, the conference has to be feeling fantastic on Wednesday morning, with Georgia sitting at No. 2 in the first polls.

Alabama coming in at No. 5 and Kentucky being ranked No. 6 gives them a pretty solid landing spot if either one of those teams were to catch another loss.

Realistically, if Kentucky beats No. 13 Tennessee this weekend in Knoxville, the Cats' can afford an additional loss and still secure a playoff bid.

But, why in the world is Alabama ranked eight spots ahead of Tennessee if the Vols won the head-to-head matchup last month?

"The head to head matchup between Tennessee and Alabama is not going to come into play at this point becuase of where those two teams are viewed in the rankings process," CFP chairman Hunter Yurachek explained.

No. 7 Texas is the only current team in the country with wins against three ranked teams, with a number of others including Kentucky, BYU, Alabama, Ole Miss and Ohio State being ones with two wins on the season so far.

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It was undefeated No. 8 UCLA that came in behind No. 4 Indiana, after the Hoosiers hung on for dear life against Minnesota this past weekend, as the committee came off as confusing given the Hoosiers strength of schedule.

We could be witnessing a year in which the Big Ten might only get two teams into the College Football Playoff, especially if No. 12 Ohio State cannot figure out life without Julian Sayin.

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The Buckeyes, in my opinion, deserved to be ranked in this area. But the argument over head-to-head matchups was not even discussed by the committee due to Ohio State not being in the same pod of teams, according to chairman Hunter Yurachek.

"They didnt look like the same Ohio State team