Scoggins: Don't let college football's first playoff bracket upset you

The 12-member committee charged with selecting four teams to play in the inaugural College Football Playoff will release its first rankings on Tuesday.

In other words, fans of teams outside the initial top four will get their first chance to freak out.

Don't worry, we get six shots to pick apart resumes — and the committee's decision-making — before the final rankings are released Dec. 7.

Let's save energy and pace ourselves. Everything will be turned upside down and back again between now and then. That's the beauty of college football.

Upsets will happen. SEC teams will beat-up on each other. Jameis Winston might do something dumb again.

Good luck to committee members, though. They have a difficult job ahead of them, beginning with their debut Top 25 poll. The committee's mission is to pick the "four best teams" for the playoff by evaluating an assortment of data, including statistics, strength of schedule, even key injuries.

In the spirit of things, I'll pretend to be a committee member and pick my top four teams at present. Emphasis on PRESENT. Remember, this can and will change before the final vote.

The Bulldogs get the top spot by virtue of a 7-0 record that includes three consecutive victories earlier this season against top-10 teams. The Bulldogs led by at least 18 points in the fourth quarter of all three of those games. They have a Heisman Trophy favorite in quarterback Dak Prescott. The Bulldogs still must play road games at Alabama and in-state rival Ole Miss.

The defending national champions haven't looked invincible, but they remain undefeated despite being led by Captain Distraction. If Winston doesn't derail the Seminoles with his off-the-field nonsense, they have a manageable path to the Final Four.

This is where the discussion becomes interesting. Auburn's only loss came on the road at Mississippi State. The Tigers won at Kansas State and defeated LSU by 34 points. They rank in the top 25 nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense.

However, Auburn's closing stretch includes road games at Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama. Yikes. Given their schedule, the Tigers still would have a strong argument for the playoff with two losses.

The Ducks' only loss came against 6-1 Arizona. They have defeated two ranked teams in Michigan State and UCLA. Since the Arizona loss, the Ducks have averaged nearly 49 points and won three games by an average margin of about 18 points. They rank fifth nationally in scoring at 45.5 points and feature a leading Heisman candidate in quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Alabama: The Tide's only loss came to Ole Miss, but a 59-0 thrashing of Texas A&M got everyone's attention. The Tide's final four games include LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Crunch time will decide Tide's fate.

Michigan State: The Spartans lost to Oregon 46-27 in a game that was close until the fourth quarter. Look at their victories though: Jacksonville State, Eastern Michigan, Wyoming, Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan. Only two of those teams have winning records.

Notre Dame: Only blemish is a 31-27 loss at Florida State, a game that ended in controversy after the Fighting Irish had a touchdown nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty in the end zone in the final seconds. A soft schedule hurts the Irish's case. Their opponents so far have a combined record of 29-25, which looks even worse when you remove Florida State's 7-0.

Admittedly, that's an incomplete list of candidates. Keep an eye on Georgia if Todd Gurley gets reinstated. TCU hung 82 points on Texas Tech and leads the nation in scoring. A few other one-loss teams can make their case. For now.

That's important to remember with the release of the first poll. It's not even November yet. We don't need to hyperventilate or create conspiracy theories over the committee's rankings.