Greg McElroy explains how LSU, Notre Dame losing affects Florida State, Ohio State

LSU and Notre Dame are out of the College Football Playoff picture at this point, but they’ll still have a big impact on some top contenders. The Tigers and Fighting Irish both suffered their third losses of the season this past week, falling down to No. 19 and No. 20, respectively, in the updated CFP rankings.

LSU is the only top 25 win this season for No. 4 Florida State, and ESPN analyst Greg McElroy sees that potentially being an issue for the Seminoles. No. 1 Ohio State also takes a hit to its resume as its earlier win against Notre Dame now looks less strong, though the Buckeyes at least have a win against No. 10 Penn State to hang their hat on.

“LSU and Notre Dame are important here,” McElroy said on the rankings reveal show Tuesday. “Obviously, two teams now with three losses. That doesn’t necessarily mean a lot as far as the New Year’s Six is concerned, but it puts a bit of a dent in the resumes for Ohio State, who is kind of hinging on a big win against Notre Dame, and Florida State, who had a big win against LSU earlier in the year.

“Those two teams taking a third loss (is) maybe not about their future but some other teams it could have an impact (on).”

Ultimately, neither Ohio State nor Florida State will be in any trouble so long as both finish out the season undefeated. In the Buckeyes’ case, they could even potentially stand a chance to make it in as a one-loss team should they fall to Michigan, as was the case last season.

The Seminoles might not be so lucky if they were to lose. As ESPN’s Heather Dinich explained last week, FSU is under pressure to finish out the season as an undefeated ACC champion if it hopes to maintain its spot among the top four.

Florida State closes out the season against Miami, North Alabama and Florida, none of which are currently ranked. At least the Hurricanes and Gators have winning records at this point, though that may change by the time the Seminoles meet Florida on Nov. 25.

Of course, the flip side of that is that FSU is likely to be favored in each of those games and should have no trouble winning. That would then put the pressure on it to simply win the ACC title game, which at this point would match it up with No. 11 Louisville.

For now, the Seminoles will simply hope to keep rolling beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday against Miami.