Stanford debuted at number 11 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, which were released earlier today.

This may be a bit disappointing to Stanford fans who, prior to the release of the CFP rankings, had their team ranked #8 and #9 in USA Today and AP, respectively, but the CFP committee's choice to put Stanford in the #11 slot is justifiable. After all, all but three of the teams ahead of one-loss Stanford are undefeated Power Five teams, and the only one-loss teams ranked ahead of Stanford are Alabama, Notre Dame, and Florida.

Of course, it's very likely that this initial CFP ranking has little to do with the final CFP ranking. Of the top four teams in the initial CFP rankings last year, only one of them (Florida State) was still in the final four at the end of the season. And future national champion, Ohio State, was ranked all the way down at #16 in the first CFP rankings last season.

What happens this season is anybody's guess.

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

And if you're curious to hear more about Stanford's prospects of a national title run, click below to listen to Matt's most recent episode of Cardinal CounTree: