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CFP Committee chair Rob Mullens explains what separates Ohio State, LSU, and Clemson

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

The final College Football Playoff Rankings of the regular season are out, and not much has changed ahead of Championship Weekend.

Among teams that lost, Alabama and Minnesota both saw free falls out of the top 10. Without a conference championship to try and improve their stock, those two teams that had strong regular seasons are out of the CFP running.

The top four remains unchanged coming out of rivalry week with Ohio State, LSU, Clemson, and Georgia all securing big wins. Of those four, the top three remain undefeated.

RELATED: College Football Playoff Rankings: Ohio State locked into No. 1 seed ahead of Championship Weekend

During Tuesday’s CFP Rankings show, CFP Committee chair Rob Mullens was asked about the separation between the top three teams. For the Committee, Mullens cited wins against ranked teams as the thing that really puts Ohio State and LSU ahead of Clemson.

“We spend considerable time talking about those three (LSU, Ohio State, and Clemson),” explained Mullens. “The difference in 1, 2, and 3 is just wins against ranked opponents and Ohio State with their fourth win against a ranked opponent this weekend, LSU with their impressive resume, that’s the separator.”

At this point, the No. 1 seed is important to avoid a semifinal matchup with an undefeated team. Though that obviously could change during Championship Weekend.

Either way, the top three teams are in a great “win and in” position for the Playoff.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.