College Football Playoff Rankings Prediction

Predicting what the first edition of the college football playoff rankings will look like.

Jan 21, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; The College Football Playoff National Championship trophy at press conference at The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Savannah Ballroom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Predicting what the first edition of the college football playoff rankings will look like.

The 2025 college football season is heading into week eleven as the month of November as arrived, and that also means the first edition of the college football playoff rankings will be released Tuesday evening. With four weeks left in the regular season, teams are eager to know where they stand in the current playoff standings.

It is worth noting that there has been shake up in regards to how the college football playoff will operate this season. Last year, the highest-ranked conference champions were awarded the top four seeds and first-round byes. This year, it will be the highest ranked four teams that receive first-round byes. Outside of that, it will operate the same way it did last season. The first round will be played at the higher ranked team's home stadium and from there on out, the games will be played at neutral sites.

This year, the national title game will be played in Miami, Florida on January 19th. The first set of games of the playoff will be played on Dec. 19th, the second round will begin on Dec. 31st and the semifinals will be played on Jan. 8th and 9th.

So as things sit today, here is how I predict the college football playoff rankings will look when they ar revealed on Tuesday at 8 PM ET.

College Football Playoff Rankings Prediction

Jan 8, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart during the 2023 CFP National Championship head coaches press conference at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. Oregon
8. BYU
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas Tech
11. Oklahoma
12. Virginia

The first four out being Texas, Louisville, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.

Now, it's worth noting a couple of things. The conference champion from each conference will receive an automatic bid into the playoff. The highest-ranked G5 team also receives an automatic bid into the playoff. So in this scenario, Oklahoma would be the odd team out, as Virginia would be considered the conference champion and the highest ranked G5 team would take Oklahoma's spot in a playoff bracket.

There is still a lot to be decided before the playoff picture becomes clearer. For example, BYU and Texas Tech play one another this weekend in Lubbock, Texas. However, the first set of rankings always provides one indicator: what your team needs to do in order to make the college football playoffs.

The rankings will be revealed at 8 PM ET on ESPN.