Projecting the first College Football Playoff rankings. It gets hard after Alabama, Clemson

On Tuesday, we will get our first look at the College Football Playoff rankings. Alabama and Clemson are clearly the class of the field but after that it is a jumbled mess.

We’ve got fantastic match-ups this week with an SEC “Final Four” of sorts as Alabama travels to LSU and Georgia faces Kentucky. In other important games, Michigan hosts Penn State and Notre Dame makes the short drive to Evanston, Illinois, to face Northwestern.

Here’s my stab at projecting what the first playoff rankings look like. The actual rankings will be released at 4 p.m.

Projected CFP Top 25 Rankings

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. LSU

4. Notre Dame

5. Georgia

6. Michigan

7. Oklahoma

8. Central Florida

9. Ohio State

10. West Virginia

11. Washington State

12. Kentucky

13. Penn State

14. Utah

15. Texas

16. Florida

17. Iowa

18. Mississippi State

19. Houston

20. Utah State

21. Virginia

22. Fresno State

23. Syracuse

24. Boston College

25. Washington

After the College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday, I will give my New Year’s Six Bowl projections based on what the committee does with their rankings.