Where Vanderbilt is Ranked in Initial 2025 College Football Playoff Rankings
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November football is the most meaningful time of the year in college football. The month where contenders rise and pretenders fall out of the conversation for the College Football Playoffs. With the final stretch of the regular season looming, the College Football Playoff committee put out its first edition of the 12-team bracket and the rest of the top 25 out on Tuesday night.
After dropping a game to No. 20 Texas on Saturday, Vanderbilt took its second loss of the season and fell to 7-2. In the first official playoff rankings the committee put Vanderbilt at No.16. This is about expected considering that Vanderbilt dropped from No. 9 to No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25 poll from Sunday.
But not all is lost yet, though. The Commodores’ playoff hopes are not completely gone. They have one remaining hope: win out and get in. While it is not a guarantee, one would assume that a 10-2 Vanderbilt, or just about any SEC team that goes 10-2 would more than likely make the playoffs. Vanderbilt would have a resume to do it, as well.
The Commodores already have wins at South Carolina when the Gamecocks were ranked No. 11. Though South Carolina has not had the season it hoped for, Vanderbilt still beat South Carolina 31-7. Vanderbilt also has a 31-24 win over then-No. 10 LSU and a 17-10 win over then-No. 15 Missouri.
Remaining on the schedule is two home games against Auburn and Kentucky before finishing up the season in Knoxville against what will likely be a ranked Tennessee team. If Vanderbilt were to win out, it has a chance to earn its first playoff spot in school history. Winning the final three games would also leave a positive impression on the committee compared to teams who may back their way into the postseason.
The teams that surround Vanderbilt in the rankings are 11 Texas, No. 12 Oklahoma, 13. Utah,14. Virginia and15. Louisville. For Commodore fans, they should be cheering for these teams to lose. Perhaps a team that fans in Nashville would want to cheer against the most would be No. 10 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 6-2 and have a schedule that could allow them to cruise to 10-2. However, without a conference championship opportunity due to being an independent, Notre Dame would be wiped out of the playoff conversation and certainly open up a spot for a team if it were to lose a third game.
For now though, Vanderbilt just needs to focus on winning one game at a time, starting with Auburn at 3 p.m. CT Saturday.
College Football Playoff Rankings
1 Ohio State 8-0
2 Indiana 9-0
3 Texas A&M 8-0
4 Alabama 7-1
5 Georgia 7-1
6 Ole Miss 8-1
7 BYU 8-0
8 Texas Tech 8-1
9 Oregon 7-1
10 Notre Dame 6-2
11 Texas 7-2
12 Oklahoma 7-2
13 Utah 7-2
14 Virginia 8-1
15 Louisville 7-1
16 Vanderbilt 7-2
17 Georgia Tech 8-1
18 Miami (Fla.) 6-2
19 Southern Cal 6-2
20 Iowa 6-2
21 Michigan 7-2
22 Missouri 6-2
23 Washington 6-2
24 Pittsburgh 7-2
25 Tennessee 6-3
Vanderbilt Commodores On SI:
Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.