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 to know in the poll, here's 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 | Ole Miss | 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 storylines:
Oregon takes the top spot No. 1
The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2024 saw undefeated Oregon lead the rankings, undefeated at 9-0. It’s the highest ranking for the Ducks since they ranked No. 2 in the CFP rankings in 2014.
Oregon was a no-brainer choice from most pundits for the top spot in the initial rankings of 2024. The Ducks are one of five unbeaten teams left 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 at the top is a great start for the Ducks, but remember only 2020 champion Alabama has gone wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team from the first rankings to the title game.
PERFECT: Here are the remaining undefeated FBS teams
Here's what the 12-team field would look like
There's plenty of time and games to play before the final CFP rankings are decided, but if the season ended today, this would be the playoff bracket:
HOW IT WORKS: Here's everything you need to know for how the 12-team CFP works
Top four seeds
1 seed — No. 1 Oregon
2 seed — No. 3 Georgia
3 seed — No. 4 Miami
4 seed — No. 9 BYU
After Oregon, Georgia and Miami follow as the two and three seeds. The Bulldogs rank ahead of an undefeated Miami squad as the highest-ranked SEC program, likely because Georgia's win over Texas is more impressive than any win Miami has.
BYU earns 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 it wants to hold on to a bye. The fifth highest-ranked conference champion, Boise State, ranks only three spots behind BYU.
LOOKING AHEAD: 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule, dates, TV channel, sites
First round games
(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-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion also being guaranteed a playoff spot.
The battle for No. 2
No. 2 Ohio State ranked above No. 3 Georgia in the first rankings. Both teams have one loss, but the Buckeyes have lost to the No. 1 team in the country while the Bulldogs 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. However, since Ohio State isn't projected to be a conference champion, the Buckeyes are locked into a first-round game.
The Hoosier State
Indiana is undefeated but ranks at only No. 8 behind a few one-loss teams. That's likely because of Indiana's schedule, which doesn't feature 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 a standout win over Texas A&M. No matter what happens in the rest of the season, Notre Dame can't rank higher than No. 5 because it's not in a conference.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK'S GAMES: 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 that a two-loss team makes 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.
Teams by 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.
| No. of Teams | No. of teams |
|---|---|
| 4 | Big Ten, SEC |
| 1 | ACC, Big 12, Independent, Mountain West |
Next teams out
The first team out is No. 13 SMU. The Mustangs picked up a big-time 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 since they don't play a team with a record over .500 during 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 each other, with the Aggies defeating the Tigers and the Tigers defeating the Rebels. With SEC play picking up down the stretch, 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 release
Beyond the bubble
Three teams that could make a late push into the CFP are No. 17 Iowa State, No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 Colorado. All three teams would likely need to win their conference, but all three teams have just one conference loss.
No. 21 Washington State might have the most difficult path to the College Football Playoff of any team in the initial rankings. The Cougars don't have a conference championship, so at 7-1, they would need to rank no lower than No. 11 by season's end to guarantee a playoff spot.
No. 25 Army is the lowest-ranked undefeated team at 8-0. The Black Knights haven't beaten a ranked team yet. The key word is yet as Notre Dame is on the schedule for Nov. 23. A win there could launch Army onto the playoff bubble.
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