The results are in. On Tuesday voters went to the voting booth, and delivered a resounding message to the nation.

Miami is the top college football team in the nation.

Listen, the window for Election Day jokes is roughly 24 hours and you best believe we are going to take advantage of that window.

Tuesday not only marked the midterm elections in the United States, but the release of the first set of rankings from the selection committee for the College Football Playoff. Miami indeed checked in as the top team in the nation, which was not a surprise, but there were surprises all over the rest of the rankings.

Here are the biggest takeaways.

A year ago, the Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff despite finishing with a 10-2 record. Those two losses came at the hands of Miami and Texas A&M early in the season, and the team’s ten win closing stretch was not enough to earn a berth.

That led to much consternation, a withdrawal from bowl game consideration, and a chance to the College Football Playoff selection process. Starting this season, Notre Dame receives an automatic bid if the Fighting Irish are ranked inside the top 12 of the final rankings.

Tuesday, the Fighting Irish debuted at No. 11, and with a clear message from the committee:

Win out.

This weekend, Notre Dame hosts No. 1 Miami in South Bend. A win in that game likely propels the Fighting Irish up the rankings, while a loss would drop the team to two losses on the season, likely dooming Notre Dame to another season on the outside looking in. While there are many who question Notre Dame’s debut at No. 11 in this season’s poll — their lone loss came at BYU in a game that ended in controversial fashion — selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said on Tuesday night that while the committee is “impressed” with Notre Dame, they lack a “signature win.”

A win Saturday, it seems, would qualify.

Notre Dame fans were not alone Tuesday night in wondering just what, exactly, qualifies as a “signature win” in the minds of the committee.

After all, detractors of the rankings immediately pointed to Indiana, who checked in at No. 4 in the rankings. If the College Football Playoff began today, the Hoosiers would have a bye.

But while Notre Dame was dinged for the lack of a signature win, Indiana seemed to be excused from that requirement. The Hoosiers are currently 8-1 (5-1 in the Big Ten) with wins over North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky, Northwestern, Rutgers, Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota. Those last two wins came both came in overtime. And the Hoosiers have a loss to Ohio State, who checked in at No. 12 and would be the first team out if the College Football Playoff began today (Boise State would be in from the No. 25 spot as the one Group of 6 representative).

Explaining the discrepancy between Notre Dame and Indiana, Yurachek pivoted to a strength of schedule argument:

This is not the only “strength of” argument the committee seems to favor right now.

“It just means more” is something of an internet meme when it comes to the SEC.

But it is one the committee seems to have taken to heart.

The committee ranked ten SEC teams in the initial Top 25, including two teams with three losses (South Carolina and Florida). Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss are all currently in the bracket with two losses each, and Georgia checks in at No. 2 — ahead of unbeaten Utah — with a loss.

And of those ten teams eight of them (Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Missouri, and South Carolina) ranked ahead of their place in the Associated Press Top 25.

There was also something off about where the Crimson Tide placed, beyond the No. 5 ranking with a pair of losses on their resume. While the committee seemed to give Alabama a great deal of credit for a win over one-loss Kentucky, but did not punish them for a loss to Tennessee by three scores, a Volunteers team that is one of the two-loss SEC teams in the rankings.

So when it comes to the SEC, the wins seem to mean more, but not the losses.

The Big 12 saw five teams — Arizona, BYU, Utah, Houston, and Texas Tech — in the rankings. Arizona checked in at No. 22, Houston at No. 17, Texas Tech at No. 15, BYU at No. 9, and Utah at No. 3.

That has the team in line for multiple bids, at least for the moment. If the College Football Playoff began right now, both BYU and Utah would be in, with Texas Tech and Houston knocking on the door.

The problem for the Big 12? The next two weeks.

BYU and Utah square off this weekend, and the Utes travel to Tucson next week to take on Arizona.

How those games unfold will go a long way towards reshaping how the Big 12 stacks up in the rankings.

That leads us to our final takeaway.

These rankings are just a starting point.

Beginning this weekend, you can expect a whole lot of movement in the College Football Playoff rankings. Week 10, thanks to the rankings, looms as a massive “moving day” schedule, with seven games between teams in the committee’s initial rankings:

Oregon against Ohio State certainly feels like an “elimination game,” given where both those teams sit in the rankings. We talked about Notre Dame’s situation, with this looking like a must-win game for the Fighting Irish. Kentucky is in a good place right now with just one loss, but they play teams inside the CFP Top 25 in each of the next three weeks (at No. 13 Tennessee, vs. No. 24 Florida, and at No. 18 Missouri). This weekend begins a pivotal stretch for the Wildcats.

So while you might have some questions about the rankings right now, this weekend will go a long way towards answering those questions.

And hopefully not creating more.