College Football Playoff Rankings - Why You Shouldn't Be Mad

The first College Football Playoff Rankings came out tonight and if you were anyone but a Clemson, LSU, Ohio State or Alabama fan, you were a bit upset. Understandably so, considering Alabama has a loss and they were favored ahead of eight unbeaten teams. That doesn't mean it's time to freak out.

The obvious reason not to freak out is the fact that it's November 3 and these rankings, though they do matter right now, will likely change massively within the coming months. The board took a chance on putting two SEC teams in the top four, especially since they play each other this week, it's almost as if the board admitted that this rankings don't matter by putting them there.

Here are some reasons as to why you shouldn't care that Oklahoma State was skipped over and that all Big 12 schools are not being respected.

Alabama isn't a terrible team to put there

Let's be honest, they're good. Yeah, they lost to Ole Miss, who lost to Memphis, who's played no one other than Ole Miss. But other than that, 'Bama has been pretty good and their opponents combined record is 61-36, yes that's a lot better than Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU and Baylor and like it or not, that's a big thing they look at. Is that opponent record because some of those teams play some bad teams as well? Maybe, but in the end, that's a pretty impressive number. Does the Crimson Tide deserve to be there? That remains to be unseen, at least until Saturday, but they've proven they can win under coach Saban and will likely continue to do so. Like it or not, they're there on November 3, 2015, and that's not a huge deal.

The Big 12 isn't getting disrespected

None of the undefeated in the Big 12 have played anyone. You can go to every news outlet in Waco, Ft. Worth, Stillwater and Norman and anyone else covering those teams and you'll see the same thing for the past seven-plus Sundays, "We'll know more about this team next week."

Only we won't. Well, we haven't yet. The toughest team TCU has played is Tech, who has literally found a way to have the perfect offense (by making their defense a sacrificial lamb) and stumbled against Kansas State, who couldn't even score against OU (and I don't think I need to remind you about that loss to Texas). The same goes for OU and OSU. OSU has struggled against WVU, KSU and Texas. None of those teams looked that hot afterward, so that definitely hurts. OU lost to Texas but then played like world beaters against Kansas State and Kansas, who we know have checked out till next year.

The Big 12 is not getting disrespected. It's being put on hold until we actually do know how good each team is. The Big 10 is the only other conference with three undefeated teams (MSU, Ohio State and Iowa). Iowa and Michigan State are fairly ranked, while Ohio State, though having not played extremely well, is still sort of riding on the curtails of last years championship run. Another team did that last year, Florida State.

We will actually find out more about the Big 12 these next few weeks. Whoever ends up undefeated and the (singular) champion, should make in that top four easily. However, if the champion comes out as a one-loss team, there could be a mess.

This happens every year

You can make an argument for every undefeated team to be in that top four. Some have stronger ones, but either way there is an argument. Ohio State at this point wasn't in the top 10, and many other national champions were also under-appreciated. Is Oklahoma State the next Ohio State? The odds aren't in their favor as the Big 12 Gauntlet is about to begin, but there's still a chance.

After all, it's only November 3, 2015, and decision weekend doesn't begin until December 5, 2015.