College Football Playoff Forecast: No. 1 Mississippi State Faces Tough Road

Dak Prescott, Dan Mullen This marks a new era for college football, and that should make the next two months even more exciting than usual.

The sport is debuting its new playoff format this season, and the first-ever rankings for the College Football Playoff were released earlier this week.

The SEC dominated the inaugural rankings, with upstart Mississippi State leading the way in the No. 1 spot. However, the first rankings don’t mean a whole lot, as there’s still a lot that can change before the regular season concludes. As former NFL linebacker Matt Chatham pointed out on FootballByFootball.com, the Bulldogs have a difficult path to the playoffs.

“Unfortunately, they also have one of the toughest roads ahead in college football, with road games against two of the current top six teams in the rankings, Alabama and Ole Miss,” Chatham wrote. “A potential SEC championship matchup … if they’re able to make it to that point…would likely be against a talented Georgia team with running back Todd Gurley. Sheesh.”