The inaugural College Football Playoff Top 25 Poll was released on Tuesday, with the Mississippi State Bulldogs ranked No. 1.
The College Football Playoff Top 25 Poll is developed by the new college football playoff selection committee. These 12 committee members include former football coaches and players, sports reporters, athletic directors, superintendents and other administrators. This list also includes former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. These committee members will have the task of revealing on Dec. 7 which four teams will make the first ever college football playoff. Until then, every Tuesday the committee will release its current rankings.
The first of these rankings was released Tuesday with Mississippi State No. 1, Florida State No. 2, Auburn No. 3 and Ole Miss No. 4. Oregon and Alabama were ranked No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, which gave the SEC West four out of the top six teams in the rankings. This has made many fans question whether or not the selection committee has any bias toward the SEC. Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics for the University of Arkansans, Jeff Long, is the chair of the selection committee. After the first rankings, Long told ESPN  the committee does not have any conference bias.
“We do not analyze it by conference,” Long said. “We look at those teams and evaluate the teams they played and the success they had or the failures they had.”
If the season ended today, three SEC West teams would be in the playoffs. However, that does not mean three or even two SEC West teams will be in the playoffs when the season ends. Auburn will travel to Oxford to face the Rebels Saturday. The Rebels are coming off their first loss of the season at Tiger Stadium against LSU. The only loss of the season for Auburn came against No. 1 MSU on Oct. 11.  The loser of the Auburn Ole Miss matchup this weekend will face an up hill battle to rejoin the ranks of the top four at the end of the season.  
The Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Florida State Seminoles are the only undefeated teams from the big five conferences. FSU looks like a lock to get into the playoffs as they do not have another ranked opponent on its schedule. However, MSU still has to play No. 6 Alabama and No. 4 Ole Miss on the road. If the Bulldogs win these games, they will likely play No. 11 Georgia in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.
There are 15 teams with one loss ranked behind the two undefeated teams. All of these teams come from the big five conferences, other than No. 10 Notre Dame, which is independent. This will make it close to impossible for a school to make it to the playoffs with two losses. This means teams like Alabama, Oregon, Texas Christian and Michigan State are all one loss away from being eliminated from playoff contention. Although some critics believe a two-loss SEC team is better than a one-loss team from another conference, a two-loss team still has a small chance of making the playoffs. This gives FSU and MSU a distinct advantage, as they would have to lose two games rather than one. The goal for all of the top 17 teams must be to finish the season with no more than one loss and hope the selection committee calls its name on Dec 7.