When the new Top 25 college football rankings will be released for Week 13

What you need to know as the AP top 25 voters and Coaches -- and for the third time, the College Football Playoff selection committee -- are set to release their updated college football rankings heading into Week 13.

Your look at when the new Top 25 college football rankings are coming out ahead of a consequential Week 13 slate. | Brett Davis | Imagn Images

Half a dozen top 25 college football teams lost their games over the weekend, including two in the top-ten, ensuring we’ll see some important changes in the rankings as we move into the penultimate week of the 2025 regular season.

Alabama is heading down after a stunning loss against Oklahoma, which is moving up and potentially into the playoff bracket this week on the back of a stout defense.

Texas is also due for a fall after suffering a third loss, and one that wasn’t particularly pretty, on the road against Georgia, which inched closer to the SEC title game again.

When will we know what happens? Here’s what you need to know for when the various college football rankings will be released today as we prepare for the Week 13 slate.

When the Top 25 college football rankings will come out

First up, the Coaches Poll will be announced at or around 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Nov. 16 after the eligible coaches cast their ballots for the top 25 teams.

From there, the Associated Press will announce its official top 25 rankings at or around 2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Nov. 16 after official voters submit their ballots to the AP to be counted.

And then, for the third time in 2025: the official College Football Playoff rankings, set for their release a couple days later, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

Keep in mind, however: much like the football rankings themselves, their scheduled release time isn’t an exact science and may not be exactly right.

These are estimated times and occasionally the ranking services can be early or late, by as much as 15 to 30 minutes every week.

Sometimes, ballots arrive late or there are technical issues in calculating them, but both polls are usually released around the times listed.

Whenever the rankings are released, you can see them in their entirety on College Football HQ On Sports Illustrated.

How the AP top 25 rankings are created

Voters designated by the Associated Press who take part in the poll first create a list of what they consider the 25 best teams in the country. 

From there, they assign each team a number of points, awarding the best team the most number of points, which is 25. 

They give the second-lowest number to the second-best team, the third-lowest to the third-best team, etc.

The AP then combines the numerical value of each voter’s poll and ranks the teams by number of points in descending order to create the final rankings.

College Football Playoff rankings schedule for 2025

Until recently, the weekly college football rankings were confined to those released by the AP top 25 voters and the coaches, but now the more consequential College Football Playoff rankings are slated to be revealed by the selection committee.

All times Eastern

CFP rankings release No. 1
Tues., Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.

CFP rankings release No. 2
Tues., Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.

CFP rankings release No. 3
Tues., Nov. 18 at 8:30 p.m.

CFP rankings release No. 4
Tues., Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

CFP rankings release No. 5
Tues., Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.

Selection Sunday
Sun., Dec. 7 at 12 p.m.