ANALYSIS: What do first College Football Playoff rankings mean for Ohio State, Cincinnati

1. Ohio State is in pretty good shape.

The fifth-ranked Buckeyes would not be in if the playoff started today, but their path is fairly clear despite having lost to No. 4 Oregon.

OSU already knew it had to win out, and now it is clear doing so would mean knocking out one of the teams ahead of them (No. 3 Michigan State) and padding the resume with a win over No. 7 Michigan.

Even if they can’t jump Oregon, the Buckeyes likely can hold off everyone else based on strength of record.

“If you look at Ohio State, you look at who they’ve played so far — they won at Minnesota and they beat Penn State. That was a good game the other night,” said CFP chairman Gary Barta, who is the athletics director at Iowa.

“Offensively, who can argue with what’s happened with (C.J.) Stroud and (TreVeyon) Henderson and (Chris) Olave and (Garrett) Wilson? That’s been impressive, but they don’t yet have a signature win, and because Oregon had beaten them head to head, that certainly was an important criteria.

“Oregon had also beaten similar type teams. Fresno State is 7-2 and they won at UCLA, so those sort of had some similarity with the Minnesota win.

“At the end of the day it was close enough that that head-to-head (win for Oregon) put Oregon ahead of Ohio State.”

2. Cincinnati is not.

The first rankings had good news and bad news for coach Luke Fickell’s Bearcats.

At No. 6, they are ranked higher than ever, and they are ahead of multiple undefeated teams from Power 5 conferences, including perennial playoff contender Oklahoma. That represents a newfound level of respect from the committee.

However, it might not be enough respect to help them this year. UC is behind three one-loss teams, and the Bearcats could have a hard time improving their resume with no one left on their schedule currently ranked.

“The win at (No. 10) Notre Dame — probably everybody on this call saw that game,” Barta said. “It was a heck of a performance. It was a great win, but after that win, look at who else they’ve beaten. Look at who else they’ve played.”

He also noted the Bearcats had been less-than-dominant in beating below-average Navy and Tulane teams the past two weeks, so at least they have the potential to pick up style points this month.

“I think the Notre Dame win is realized here and shown here by the respect of being sixth in the country, but certainly the Navy and Tulane and the rest of their schedule was taken under consideration,” Barta said.

3. Eighth-ranked Oklahoma is a team to watch for both Ohio schools.

The Sooners stand out because they are undefeated but trail four one-loss teams, including two from the Big Ten.

Barta acknowledged Oklahoma has not exactly won pretty so far this season, but he added that going to freshman quarterback Caleb Williams could boost their stature.

“First of all, they’re 9-0, and so they belong being ranked eighth,” Barta said. “They’re undefeated, so they get a lot of credit for that, but defensive struggles throughout the year certainly was discussed.

“The other thing that was discussed is Oklahoma is still trying to find their identity, but certainly when they added Caleb Williams at quarterback, the committee agreed that the offense certainly changed in a positive way, but we may be seeing it impacting the whole team, defense included.”

Perhaps more significant, the Sooners also have the ability to give their resume a big boost with wins over Baylor (No. 12 this week) and Oklahoma State (No. 11) between now and the end of the month.

With that in mind, Oklahoma’s chances to jump the Bearcats seem pretty high (two good wins vs. one).

Could they jump the Buckeyes, too? Maybe. The committee likes Ohio State more now, but it remains to be seen how the committee would weigh OU being undefeated compared to a one-loss Ohio State team when all is said and done.

Ohio State fans will want to root against Oregon and Oklahoma the rest of the way, if only for insurance.

4. Alabama controls its destiny.

There was little reason to doubt this before the rankings were revealed, but it became certain when the Crimson Tide showed up at No. 2 despite having lost to No. 14 Texas A&M.

If Nick Saban’s team wins out, the Crimson Tide will get in. If that is Georgia’s only loss, the Bulldogs will get in as well.

5. Plenty could still change, and it probably will.

If the committee, which has undergone much change in membership and seemed to favor different things over time, has been consistent on anything, it is a resistance to counting games before they are played.

Hypothetical wins are just that —they are not baked into the rankings being made now.

Chaos could change everything, especially for Cincinnati. The Bearcats could really use another loss by Oregon and Alabama. The top three in the Big 12 taking turns beating each other would also be good for UC, as would something similar in the Big Ten so that no teams with even one loss are left standing in those leagues.

“I figured out yesterday that we have more than 250 games still remaining,” Barta said. “So there’s a lot of football to be played yet.”