The Southeastern Conference grabbed several top spots in the College Football Playoff selection committee's very first rankings, according to Yahoo Sports.
Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn and Mississippi are the top four teams in the Football Playoff rankings.
''It was extremely difficult, more difficult than any of us had expected having gone through our mock selections before,'' said Jeff Long, Arkansas athletic director and committee chairman. ''There are 18 one-loss teams in FBS at this point in time, and the difference between many of them is very slim.''
The Oregon Ducks rounded out the top five with Alabama close behind at No. 6. The SEC's West Division boasts four of the top six teams in the rankings. College football's regular season still has four games remaining with several SEC West matchups. Ole Miss will host Auburn this Saturday.
The final playoff rankings will be released Dec. 7.
''Everyone on the selection committee recognized that our rankings will change over the next six weeks,'' Long said, as quoted by Yahoo. ''I think that's important for us to emphasize. We expect our rankings to change over the next six weeks. One week's rankings won't influence the next week's rankings.''
TCU (No. 7), Michigan State (No. 8), Kansas State (No. 9) and Notre Dame (No. 10) made up the rest of the latter half of the top 10.
Of the Big Five conferences, Mississippi State and defending national champion Florida State are the only undefeated teams remaining.
''It's cool,'' Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott said. ''That's something you can never take away from the university or this program. First-ever ranking, first team to be No. 1, so that's pretty cool for the university.''
MSU and FSU are also the top two teams in the Associated Press' college football poll.
This is the first year in NCAA history that a playoff format will be used for post-season college football. The ranking is the first insight given to the public on how the playoff selection committee views each school's playoff chances.
