College Football Playoff rankings: Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Miami lead 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.) made up the top four spots as revealed Tuesday night.

Before we dig into what we need to know in the poll, here are the top 25:

College Football Playoff Rankings: Top 25 for Week 11

RANK	SCHOOL	RECORD
1	Oregon	9-0
2	Ohio State	7-1
3	Georgia	7-1
4	Miami	9-0
5	Texas	7-1
6	Penn State	7-1
7	Tennessee	7-1
8	Indiana	9-0
9	BYU	8-0
10	Notre Dame	7-1
11	Alabama	6-2
12	Boise State	7-1
13	SMU	8-1
14	Texas A&M	7-2
15	LSU	6-2
16	Miss Ole	7-2
17	Iowa State	7-1
18	Pittsburgh	7-1
19	Kansas State	7-2
20	Colorado	6-2
21	Washington State	7-1
22	Louisville	6-3
23	Clemson	6-2
24	Missouri	6-2
25	army	8-0

With the top 25 poll here, let’s take a look at some of the stories:

Oregon takes the No. 1 spot

The first College Football Playoff rankings in 2024 had undefeated Oregon leading the rankings, undefeated at 9-0. It is the highest ranking for the Ducks since they were ranked No. 2 in the CFP rankings in 2014.

Oregon was a no-brainer pick by most pundits for the top spot in the initial rankings in 2024. The Ducks are one of five undefeated teams remaining in FBS football — and no team has two better wins than Oregon’s wins over No. 2 Ohio State and No. .12 Boise State.

Starting the CFP rankings atop is a good start for the Ducks, but remember that only 2020 champion Alabama has gone wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team from the No. 1 seed to the title game.

PERFECT: Here are the remaining undefeated FBS teams

This is how the 12-team field looks like

There is plenty of time and games to be played before the final CFP rankings are decided, but if the season ended today, this would be the playoffs:

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

Top four seeds

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

Oregon is followed by Georgia and Miami as the two and three seeds. The Bulldogs rank ahead of an undefeated Miami team as the top-ranked SEC program, likely because Georgia’s win over Texas is more impressive than any other win Miami has.

BYU earns the final first-round bye as the No. 4 seed and the projected Big 12 champion. However, the undefeated Cougars are only ranked No. 9 overall, leaving little room for error if it wants to hold on for a bye. The fifth-highest ranked conference champion, Boise State, ranks just three spots behind BYU.

LOOKING AHEAD: 2024-25 College Football Playoff Schedule, Dates, TV Channel, Sites

Play in the first round

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

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

The battle for No. 2

2. Ohio State ranked above No. 3 Georgia in the first ranking. Both teams have one loss, but the Buckeyes have lost to the No. 1 team in the country, while the Bulldogs have lost to the No. 11 team. Both teams also have good wins, with OSU beating No. 6 Penn State and UGA beating No. 5 Texas. But 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 is only ranked No. 8 after a pair of one-loss teams. That’s likely because of Indiana’s schedule, which doesn’t have a team in the CFP rankings. Elsewhere in the Hoosier state, Notre Dame opens at No. 10. The Fighting Irish have an albatross of a loss at home to Northern Illinois, but an excellent win over Texas A&M. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, Notre Dame can’t rank higher than No. 5 because it’s not in a conference.

LAST WEEK’S GAMES AT A GLANCE: Ohio State downs Penn State, Miami beats Duke, more from Week 10

The last teams in

Elsewhere in the rankings, 2024 will likely be the first year a two-loss team reaches the College Football Playoff. Previously, when the CFP was only four teams, there had been 22 one-loss teams and 14 undefeated teams to make the playoffs. No. 11 Alabama is the highest-ranked two-loss team as the only two-loss team in the projected CFP field.

No. 12 Boise State is the fifth-highest ranked projected conference champion, so the Broncos get the 12 seed from both merit and the automatic bid.

Hold after conference

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

Number of teams	Number of teams
4	Big Ten, SEC
1	ACC, Big 12, Independent, Mountain West

Next team out

The first team out is No. 13 SMU. The Mustangs picked up a big win over No. 18 Pittsburgh in their most recent outing. SMU is undefeated in the ACC and its only loss has come to No. 9 BYU. The Mustangs are in a great position to climb into the top-12 field over the next few weeks as they don’t play a team with a record over .500 for the rest of the regular season.

A trio of SEC teams follow outside the rankings as No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 LSU and No. 16 Ole Miss come next. All three have played against each other, with the Aggies defeating the Tigers and the Tigers defeating the Rebels. With SEC play underway, all three teams could jump into the playoff field with wins in November.

THE NEXT RANKINGS: Here’s the schedule for when the next CFP rankings will be released

Beyond the bubble

Three teams that could enter the CFP late are No. 17 Iowa State, No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 Colorado. All three teams are likely to win their conference, but all three teams have only one conference loss.

No. 21 Washington State may have the toughest road to the College Football Playoff of any team in the preliminary rankings. The Cougars do not have a conference championship, so at 7-1 they would need to be no lower than No. 11 at the end of the season to guarantee 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 yet, as Notre Dame is on the schedule for Nov. 23. A win that could bring Army into the playoffs.