College Football HQ

Georgia, Ohio State lead College Football Playoff top 25 rankings for Week 12

The official College Football Playoff rankings have been released by the Selection Committee ahead of the Week 12 slate of games
James Parks|
Georgia, Ohio State lead College Football Playoff top 25 rankings for Week 12
Georgia, Ohio State lead College Football Playoff top 25 rankings for Week 12

Up until now, Ohio State has been the choice for the No. 1 team in college football by the official selection committee rankings, but after an action-packed weekend across the country, could there be a change in order at the top of the polls?

  • Georgia, ranked No. 1 by the AP and Coaches, was No. 2 by the committee, but convincingly beat No. 9 Ole Miss at home
  • Michigan handled Penn State on the road in a statement game without suspended coach Jim Harbaugh on the sideline
  • Washington held off a ranked Utah and its tough defense at home to stay undefeated and No. 1 in the Pac-12 standings
  • Oregon beat USC and looks like the committee's best one-loss team right now
  • Missouri beat up Tennessee in a battle of ranked SEC East hopefuls

College Football Playoff top 25 rankings

  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio State
  3. Michigan
  4. Florida State
  5. Washington
  6. Oregon
  7. Texas
  8. Alabama
  9. Missouri
  10. Louisville
  11. Oregon State
  12. Penn State
  13. Ole Miss
  14. Oklahoma
  15. LSU
  16. Iowa
  17. Arizona
  18. Tennessee
  19. Notre Dame
  20. North Carolina
  21. Kansas State
  22. Utah
  23. Oklahoma State
  24. Tulane
  25. Kansas 

How did we do? Our prediction for the Week 12 College Football Playoff rankings

What the College Football Playoff would look like 

  • No. 3 Michigan vs.
  • No. 2 Ohio State
  • No. 4 Florida State vs.
  • No. 1 Georgia

What the major bowl games would look like

Orange Bowl: Louisville vs. Alabama

Cotton Bowl: Oregon vs. Missouri

Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Washington

Peach Bowl: Oregon State vs. Tulane

College football playoff rankings criteria

College Football Playoff selectors create top 25 rankings based on their evaluation of teams’ performance on the field.

The committee employs several metrics to select the best teams.

  • Strength of schedule
  • Head-to-head game results
  • Results vs. teams in top 25 rankings
  • Results vs. common opponents
  • Conference championships

College Football Playoff electors also use advanced analytics to gauge teams’ play, but those numbers don’t play a formal role in the committee creating its top 25 rankings.

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | Teams

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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