College Football Playoff rankings go live: Who’s in? Who’s out?

Our first impression of what the College Football Playoff selection committee make of the best teams right now in their first top 25 rankings.

What the first College Football Playoff rankings look like after the selection committee revealed their first poll of the 2025 season. | USA Today Sports | Imagn

Coming off an eventful weekend of upsets and prove-it moments for national title hopefuls, the College Football Playoff selection committee has revealed its first top 25 rankings.

As expected, the SEC dominated the proceedings, with six of the top-dozen teams in the initial rankings hailing from college football’s most dominant conference.

Notably, no Group of Five school was included in the first poll, a development worth watching going forward. If no G5 team were to make the final rankings, then the selection committee would merely pick what it thought was the best school for the 12th spot.

The committee departed from the wisdom of the AP top 25 voters by adding two teams that are currently unranked in that poll, including Pittsburgh and Iowa in their top 25.

Where do things stand in the first College Football Playoff rankings?

Let’s take a look at what teams landed where in the first top 25 poll, according to the selection committee, and then another glance at what the playoff would look like if it started today.

College Football Playoff rankings for Week 11

1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. BYU
8. Texas Tech
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas
12. Oklahoma
13. Utah
14. Virginia
15. Louisville
16. Vanderbilt
17. Georgia Tech
18. Miami
19. USC
20. Iowa
21. Michigan
22. Missouri
23. Washington
24. Pittsburgh
25. Tennessee

What the College Football Playoff would look like today

First Round Byes

No. 1 Ohio State
No. 2 Indiana
No. 3 Texas A&M
No. 4 Alabama

First Round Games

For these purposes, we project Memphis will be the Group of Five selection in the College Football Playoff

12 Memphis at
5 Georgia
Winner plays 4 Alabama

9 Oregon at
8 Texas Tech
Winner at 1 Ohio State

11 Virginia at
6 Ole Miss
Winner at 3 Texas A&M

10 Notre Dame at
7 BYU
Winner at 2 Indiana

First team out: Texas

Second team out: Oklahoma

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.

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