College Football Playoff Rankings: Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Miami lead the first top 25

The first College Football Playoff rankings are here. No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Miami (Fla.) took the top four spots, it was announced Tuesday night.

Before we go into more detail about what there is to know in the survey, here are the top 25:

College Football Playoff Rankings: Top 25 for Week 11

Let’s take a look at some of the storylines with the top 25 poll here:

Oregon takes the top No. 1 spot

In the first College Football Playoff rankings of 2024, undefeated Oregon topped the rankings at 9-0. It’s the Ducks’ highest finish since they were No. 2 in the CFP rankings in 2014.

Oregon was a clear choice for most experts for the No. 1 spot in the initial rankings of 2024. The Ducks are one of five undefeated teams in FBS football – and no team has two better wins than Oregon’s victories over No. 2 Ohio State and No. 12 Boise State.

It’s a great start for the Ducks to be atop the CFP rankings, but keep in mind that only 2020 champion Alabama lasted from the first ranking to the title game as the No. 1 team.

PERFECT: Here are the remaining undefeated FBS teams

Here’s what the 12-team field would look like

There is still plenty of time and games to play before the final CFP rankings are determined, but if the season ended today, this would be the playoff round:

HOW IT WORKS: Here’s everything you need to know about how the 12-team CFP works

Top four seeds

1 seed – #1 Oregon
2 seeds – No. 3 Georgia
3 seeds – No. 4 Miami
4 seeds – No. 9 BYU

Georgia and Miami follow Oregon in second and third place. The Bulldogs are ahead of an undefeated Miami squad as the top-ranked SEC program, likely because Georgia’s win over Texas is more impressive than any win Miami has had.

BYU receives the final first-round bye as the No. 4 seed and projected Big 12 champion. However, the undefeated Cougars are only ranked No. 9 overall, leaving little room for error if they want to retain a bye. The fifth-highest conference winner, Boise State, is just three spots behind BYU.

LOOK AHEAD: Schedule, dates, TV channels, websites for the 2024-25 College Football Playoff

First round games

(12 seed) No. 12 Boise State and (5 seed) No. 2 Ohio State
(11 seed) No. 11 Alabama and (6 seed) No. 5 Texas
(10 seed) No. 10 Notre Dame and (7 seed) No. 6 Penn State
(9 seed) No. 8 Indiana and (8 seed) No. 7 Tennessee

This is the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds, with the fifth-highest conference champion also guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

The fight for second place

No. 2 Ohio State ranks ahead of No. 3 Georgia in the early rankings. Both teams have one loss, but the Buckeyes lost to the No. 1 team in the country while the Bulldogs lost to the No. 11 team. Both teams also had good wins, with OSU defeating No. 6 Penn State and UGA defeating No. 5 Texas. However, with Ohio State not expected to be a conference champion, the Buckeyes are locked into a first-round game.

The Hoosier State

Indiana is undefeated, but only sits at No. 8 behind several teams that have only suffered one loss. That’s likely due to Indiana’s schedule, which doesn’t feature a team in the CFP rankings. Elsewhere in the Hoosier State, Notre Dame begins at No. 10. The Fighting Irish suffered a huge loss at home to Northern Illinois, but were coming off a standout win against Texas A&M. No matter what happens the rest of the season, Notre Dame can’t finish higher than No. 5 because it doesn’t play in a conference.

REVIEW OF LAST WEEK’S GAMES: Ohio State beats Penn State, Miami beats Duke, more from Week 10

The last teams

Elsewhere in the rankings, 2024 will likely be the first year a two-loss team reaches the College Football Playoff. Previously, when the CFP only had four teams, there were 22 one-loss teams and 14 undefeated teams that made the playoffs. No. 11 Alabama is the top-ranked team with two losses and the only two-loss team in the projected CFP field.

No. 12 Boise State is the fifth-highest projected conference champion, so the Broncos get the 12th seed based on both performance and the automatic bid.

Teams by conference

Currently, the SEC and Big Ten lead all four-team conferences in the projected CFP range. No other conference has more than one team.

The next teams are eliminated

The first team eliminated is No. 13 SMU. The Mustangs are coming off a big win over No. 18 Pittsburgh in their last game. SMU is undefeated in the ACC, having only lost to No. 9 BYU. The Mustangs are in a great position to move into the top 12 in the next few weeks since they won’t play a team with a record over .500 later in the regular season.

A trio of SEC teams follow outside the rankings, with No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 LSU and No. 16 Ole Miss next up. All three have played each other, with the Aggies beating the Tigers and the Tigers beating the Rebels. With SEC play picking up steam, all three teams could get into the playoffs with wins in November.

NEXT RANKINGS: Here is the schedule for the release of the next CFP rankings

Beyond the bubble

Three teams that could make it into the CFP late are No. 17 Iowa State, No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 Colorado. All three teams would probably need to win their conference, but all three teams only have one conference loss.

No. 21 Washington State may have the toughest path to the College Football Playoff of any team in the top rankings. The Cougars don’t have a conference championship, so at 7-1 by the end of the season they would need to finish at least in 11th place to clinch a playoff spot.

No. 25 Army is the lowest-ranked undefeated team at 8-0. The Black Knights have yet to beat a ranked team. The key word is still, as Notre Dame is scheduled to play on November 23rd. A win there could put Army on the playoff bubble.