College Football Playoff 2014: 1st Poll Highlights Schedule-Strength Importance

Upon first glance at the College Football Playoff committee's inaugural poll, the most eye-popping thing wasn't who was sitting in the top four spots. Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn and Mississippi are all deserving enough, and there is enough intraconference infighting remaining that most of the controversy will suss itself out.

No, what was striking was the team nowhere found within the Top 25. Marshall, one of three FBS teams without a loss in 2014, went unranked in Tuesday night's release.

While no one expected the Thundering Herd, a Conference USA outfit without so much as a game against a half-decent opponent, to be among the selection committee favorites, not seeing them at all caused me to double-take like I was looking at a person picking his or her nose in public.

Even the Associated Press and Coaches Polls, each long hesitant to give any praise to non-power-five schools, have Marshall installed at No. 23—but not the 12-person committee whose opinion actually matters. Six two-loss teams were among the committee's Top 25, and even non-traditional power East Carolina, which has one loss, was 23rd.

Rank	Team
1	Mississippi State
2	Florida State
3	Auburn
4	Ole Miss
5	Oregon
6	Alabama
7	TCU
8	Michigan State
9	Kansas State
10	Notre Dame
11	Georgia
12	Arizona
13	Baylor
14	Arizona State
15	Nebraska
16	Ohio State
17	Utah
18	Oklahoma
19	LSU
20	West Virginia
21	Clemson
22	UCLA
23	East Carolina
24	Duke

So, what gives? Is Condoleezza Rice and her cohorts just a pack of #haters? Are they not entertained by the ascent of Rakeem Cato and punishing rushing style of Devon Johnson? Not exactly.

"We had a lot of consideration of Marshall," committee chairman Jeff Long told ESPN. "Obviously they are 8-0, but we looked at that, we compared their schedule, who they played to this point and compared against others and we did not think it was worthy of being placed in the top 25 at this time."

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

See, Marshall's absence was neither a snub nor an omission. It was more like a mission statement. The biggest takeaway by far coming out of Tuesday night was one singular message: Play nobody, get treated like one.

Strength of schedule was said to be among the four pillars upon which teams were judged, but it's clear which of that foursome took the most precedent. Even outside of outliers like Marshall, the nation's elite were feeling the swift changing of the guard.

Alabama, viewed by most as a semi-lock for the third or fourth spot, wound up in sixth behind Auburn, Ole Miss and Oregon. The reason? The Crimson Tide are yet to earn a signature win. Their only triumph against a Top 25 opponent this season came in their 59-0 shellacking of then-No. 21 Texas A&M. For his part, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was having none of this silly poll nonsense.

"To me, none of it matters," Saban said, per Michael Casagrande of AL.com. "What does it matter? I mean, it only matters where you end up at the end. So what matters to us is how we do in each and every game that we have to play. We have four games left to play, and if we can be successful in those games, maybe there's a chance we will play in the SEC Championship Game as well."

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

At least Alabama will have a chance to prove itself to the committee. The Tide's four remaining regular-season games include tilts with Auburn, Mississippi State and LSU.

The SEC as a whole was the biggest winner of the initial poll, as expected. The nation's best conference features three of the top four teams and four of the top six. Add No. 11 Georgia into the mix, and the SEC has five potential national title winners within its confines. 

The Big Ten isn't so lucky. No. 8 Michigan State has a decent chance at a Top Four bid if it wins out the rest of the way, but it was a bloodbath otherwise for one of the nation's most storied conferences. At No. 15 and No. 16 respectively, Ohio State and Nebraska are among the lowest-ranked one-loss teams from a power conference. Only Utah, which has played four straight one-possession games, and Duke, which is Duke, received worse news.

The rankings cast doubt on whether the Big Ten champion has a legitimate shot at the playoff. Michigan State, which had a lone loss to Oregon and plays Ohio State next Saturday, has the best chance. The Spartans have already defeated Nebraska and should skate through to the Big Ten Championship Game with a win against the Buckeyes.

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

"My thought is that the cream is going to rise to the top, and the eventual champion out of this conference will have a great opportunity,'' Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio said, per Mike Griffith of MLive.com. "It's a great conference, it's extremely well coached, there's great players in this conference, quick reactors, there's big plays on the offensive side of the ball."

Also on the short end of the scheduling stick is Notre Dame, which got exactly zero boost from its near-upset of Florida State. The Irish are ranked only 10th, four spots behind the AP voters and three worse than the Coaches. 

Again the most glaring factor is quality of opponent. Stanford's demise has left a gaping hole in Notre Dame's quality-wins department, with the loss to Florida State being the Irish's only game against a team currently ranked in the Top 25.

Things are bound to pick up a bit with a trip to Arizona State and a game with Louisville still on the schedule, but it'll be interesting to see how Notre Dame would fare against a two-loss SEC outfit.

There is nothing Notre Dame, Marshall or the entire Big Ten can do about the futility of its scheduling this season. All they can do is bite the bullet and hope the grand poobahs of the SEC and Pac-12 beat themselves up enough that an opportunity arises.

But, if anything, the committee has sent a loud and clear message for the future. It's time for all conferences, the SEC included, to step their scheduling game up.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.