The biggest suprise in the first edition of the College Football Playoff Top 25 Poll came in the Top 4, as one-loss Texas A&M was ranked just ahead of undefeated and Pac-12 favorite Washington.

During his live televised segment following the unveiling of the poll, CFB Playoff Selection Committee Chairman Kirby Hocutt explained the decision to put a second SEC team in the initial Top 4 of the poll.

“Simply stated, the committee, in our mind, believes that Texas A&M has played a stronger schedule at this point in time of the season over Washington,” Hocutt said live during ESPN’s CFP Top 25 show.

“Texas A&M’s got four wins against teams with records that are at better than .500 compared to Washington only having two wins.”

So there you have it, wins over winning teams (Auburn, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee) and scheduling continues to play a large factor in the mind’s of the playoff committee and the Aggies scheduling UCLA out of conference has paid off for now in the first rankings. Meanwhile, the Huskies scheduled Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State in the non-conference and currently has two impressive wins over Stanford and Utah.