BTN.com staff, November 3, 2015

The season's first College Football Playoff rankings was released Tuesday night, and reigning national champ Ohio State is in the top 4.

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The Buckeyes come in at No. 3 and are joined in the top 4 by No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Alabama.

Four other Big Ten teams made the initial rankings: Michigan State (No. 7), Iowa (No. 9), Michigan (No. 17) and Northwestern (No. 21).

Perspective: Ohio State, the 2014 national champion, was No. 16 in last year?s inaugural poll, and only one of the top four teams (Florida State) in that poll went on to make the first College Football Playoff.

The top four teams in the final poll, released Dec. 6, 2015, will make the second annual College Football Playoff, which consists of semifinal games at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve and the national title game Monday, Jan. 11 in Glendale, Arizona.

See the full poll below:

Playoff Selection Committee Poll
Rankings as of 11/3/2015
Rank School Prev
1 Clemson (8-0) NR
2 LSU (7-0) NR
3 Ohio State (8-0) NR
4 Alabama (7-1) NR
5 Notre Dame (7-1) NR
6 Baylor (7-0) NR
7 Michigan State (8-0) NR
8 TCU (8-0) NR
9 Iowa (8-0) NR
10 Florida (7-1) NR
11 Stanford (7-1) NR
12 Utah (7-1) NR
13 Memphis (8-0) NR
14 Oklahoma State (8-0) NR
15 Oklahoma (7-1) NR
16 Florida State (7-1) NR
17 Michigan (6-2) NR
18 Ole Miss (7-2) NR
19 Texas A&M (6-2) NR
20 Mississippi State (6-2) NR
21 Northwestern (6-2) NR
22 Temple (7-1) NR
23 UCLA (6-2) NR
24 Toledo (7-0) NR
25 Houston (8-0) NR