The first College Football Playoff rankings, issued last week, might have raised more questions than they answered.

There was controversy, of course. Alabama was the top-ranked 1-loss team even though the Crimson Tide’s loss came against a Texas A&M team that was unranked at the time (though it has to count for something that the Aggies have not lost since Oct. 2). Cincinnati’s fans howled at being ranked No. 6 and Oklahoma was in the unusual position of being an unbeaten, Playoff-regular, name-brand Power 5 conference leader only appearing at No. 8.

One thing that we have pretty much known all season was confirmed on Saturday: The ACC is toast. Wake Forest’s bid for a longshot CFP bid went up in smoke with a loss to North Carolina. The ACC has been the weakest Power 5 conference all year, really ever since Clemson’s offense laid an egg in the opener against Georgia. As it turns out, nobody can move the ball on the Bulldogs, but Clemson has lost twice more since then and the rest of the league’s teams have taken turns beating up one another.

Tuesday night will give us a new set of CFP rankings, but we’re not sure if we’ll really have any clearer answers by then.

These teams are placed in order of where we think the CFP will rank them this week.

Georgia

Again the defense dominated, allowing 273 yards and 6 points to Missouri. The Bulldogs have held their first 9 opponents to 13 points or fewer. The last time UGA did that was 1942, when Frank Sinkwich earned the Heisman Trophy and the Dawgs won the Rose Bowl. But modern football is so different from the World War II era game that it’s becoming easy to argue for this as the best UGA defense ever.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide are still the only team in FBS that ranks in the top 15 in total offense (tied for 13th) and total defense (11th). If the CFP committee put the Tide at No. 2 despite a loss to Texas A&M, then the defending national champs will stay there even after a close win over LSU, especially because none of the other top candidates did anything impressive on Saturday.

Oregon

The win over Ohio State in Columbus obviously carried more weight with the CFP committee than any other result in the country, because the Pac-12 is certainly not helping the Ducks with their résumé. The Ducks rank 17th in FBS in rushing offense with Travis Dye, who ran for 211 yards in Saturday’s win at Washington, taking over after CJ Verdell went out with a season-ending injury.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes couldn’t run very well against Nebraska and were missing leading receiver Garrett Wilson. No problem – quarterback CJ Stroud found sophomore receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba 15 times, a single-game school record for receptions, for 240 yards and a TD as OSU outlasted the Cornhuskers. The game was otherwise devoid of highlights for OSU, which needs to be on upset alert Saturday against Purdue.

Cincinnati

With 1-loss Alabama at No. 2 and the undefeated Bearcats at No. 6 last week in the first CFP rankings, the message from the committee was pretty clear: The bulk of your schedule (i.e. what league you play in) counts for more than one huge victory (because Cincinnati’s win at Notre Dame is better than any win Alabama has). If UC routs SMU, then Houston in the AAC title game, will it be enough?

Michigan

The Wolverines took care of routine business, shutting down Indiana’s injury-riddled offense and staying on course with Penn State looming this week. Not only does Michigan continue to run well, with Hassan Haskins rushing for a career-high 168 yards against the Hoosiers, but the O-line also has the nation’s best sack rate, with only 1.0% of dropbacks ending in sacks.

Oklahoma

Sooners fans might have had good reason to worry about their team’s initial No. 8 ranking. But if we can read the committee’s minds (good luck with that), the fact that none of Oklahoma’s 9 wins came against a currently ranked team, and the fact that 5 of those wins came by a single score, hurt OU’s cause. But the best 3 opponents on the schedule are coming: at Baylor, then Iowa State, then at Oklahoma State.

Notre Dame

There seems to be nothing Notre Dame can do about its résumé, and the No. 10 initial ranking seems too low for the Fighting Irish to launch a genuine bid. This is where not having a league championship game really hurts this fiercely independent program. And wins over the 3 remaining teams on the schedule – Virginia, Georgia Tech and Stanford – would provide minimal or no help to ND’s bid.

Michigan State

The Spartans bought space in the high-rent district with their win over Michigan last week and won’t quite have to leave it yet even after Saturday’s stunning loss at Purdue. That’s because MSU has a shot at Ohio State on Nov. 20 – and remember, Oregon’s spot in the top 4 is largely because of a win over the Buckeyes. If MSU runs the table and gets some help, a Playoff bid could still happen.

Oklahoma State

Yes, it’s possible for the Cowboys to work their way into the Playoff – certainly more than Notre Dame, regardless of the initial rankings. And that’s not just because OSU gets Oklahoma in Stillwater for Bedlam. Mike Gundy’s bunch does something nobody in the Big 12 is supposed to be known for: Play lights-out defense. The Cowboys are ranked 3rd in FBS in total defense at 277 yards per game.