There’s been a lot of debate over the initial College Football Playoff rankings, as to be expected.

Does Alabama deserve to be No. 2 even with a loss? Should undefeated teams such as Cincinnati (No. 6) and Oklahoma (No. 8) be ranked higher? Beyond Georgia at No. 1 (an obvious pick), there have been plenty of opinions about how the rest of these teams should be ordered.

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit believes Cincinnati fans shouldn’t be so worried, though. In fact, he predicted that the Bearcats will end up making the 4-team CFP field this season during an interview with Brandon Saho of WLWT in Cincinnati on Friday.

“See, I think all the chaos with everybody being upset about Cincinnati being at 6, somebody once said, ‘R-E-L-A-X,’ like it’s going to work itself out,” Herbstreit said. “I’d be more worried about Oklahoma back there at 8, because everyone’s ahead of them, most of these teams are going to lose. I think at the end of the day, it’s going to be Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma and Cincinnati.

“That’s who I think it’s going to be, because who’s going to beat Cincinnati? If they win out, they beat SMU — who’s a decent opponent — they beat Houston in the conference championship, they’re 13-0, I don’t think they’re going to have to state their case. I just think it’s going to be so much carnage around them that at 13-0, my belief is that they’ll eventually get in. But right now, if fans want to be fired up and upset about the system, I understand, but I think let’s play these last 5 weeks and see what happens.”

Not only has Cincinnati never made the College Football Playoff, but no Group of 5 team has made it since the system was implemented in 2014. So the Bearcats could make history if they can work their way up into a top-4 spot.

But as Herbstreit mentioned, there are still plenty of games to be played. And a lot can change in the CFP rankings between now and the end of conference championship weekend, as we’ve seen happen in previous years.

It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds and whether or not Cincinnati can get in.