Oklahoma Sooners debut at No. 7 in College Football Playoff rankings

In the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2018 season, the Oklahoma Sooners are No. 7 behind Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan and Georgia.

Here are the full rankings:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. LSU
4. Notre Dame
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. Washington State
9. Kentucky
10. Ohio State
11. Florida
12. UCF
13. West Virginia
14. Penn State
15. Utah
16. Iowa
17. Texas
18. Mississippi State
19. Syracuse
20. Texas A&M
21. NC State
22. Boston College
23. Fresno State
24. Iowa State
25. Virginia

In the CFP era (2014-present), Oklahoma’s rank in each year’s starting poll has been 18th, 15th, 14th and 5th. The second ranking on that list is from the 2015 season — one in which the Sooners actually made the four-team field. With the amount of time left between now a Dec. 2, there’s plenty of time for the proper dominoes to fall so long as OU takes care of business. Additionally, Oklahoma will have opportunities for quality wins down the home stretch even if the Texas Longhorns don’t end up meeting up for a rematch at Jerry World. History shows that one shouldn’t trip about the early CFB rankings,

However, OU fans will also need to be fans of whoever the Notre Dame Fighting Irish face over these next four weeks. The Irish will play 5-3 Northwestern on the tall grass in Evanston this week and will follow that up with a game against No. 19 Syracuse. I’m not saying that the Irish are slouches, but the likelihood of a slip-up in one of those two is fairly high. They then face Florida State and USC — both of whom are having horrible seasons but also have the athleticism to potentially hang with them.

OU fans will also prefer that Alabama beat LSU this week, as that would heavily decrease the threat of a second SEC team ending up ahead of a one-loss Big 12 champ in the final rankings. That wouldn’t be a guarantee if the Tigers win, but I don’t think anyone would be down for that headache.