Ranking teams in college football is always a contentious topic of conversation. Some feel rankings should start when the season starts, some think last season or tradition in general should weigh heavily on where they start, and others still feel rankings are better when started fresh in midseason. Consider me (and the playoff committee) among that last group.

We’re nine weeks into the season, and the committee for the College Football Playoff is ready to release its first ranking of the season. In a much less celebrated release, so am I.

I didn’t follow any of the polls out now. I just looked through each conference, made a list of teams and picked who I thought would be the better team on a neutral field right now. If I was close between a couple teams, I weighed heavily on who their losses were against and the margin in those games.

1          Mississippi State (7-0)

2          Florida State (7-0)

3          Alabama (7-1)

4          Oregon (7-1)

5          TCU (6-1)

6          Ole Miss (7-1)

7          Auburn (6-1)

8          Notre Dame (6-1)

9          Michigan State (7-1)

10        Georgia (6-1)

11        Kansas State (6-1)

12        LSU (7-2)

13        West Virginia (6-2)

14        Baylor (6-1)

15        Arizona State (6-1)

16        Oklahoma (5-2)

17        Ohio State (6-1)

18        Arizona (6-1)

19        Nebraska (7-1)

20        Marshall (8-0)

21        ECU (6-1)

22        Utah (6-1)

23        Clemson (6-2)

24        Stanford (5-3)

25        UCLA (6-2)

Others: Wisconsin (5-2), Kentucky (5-3), Duke (6-1), Georgia Tech (6-2), Miami (5-3), Colorado State (7-1), Missouri (6-2), Minnesota (6-2), Iowa (5-2)