The latest college football playoff rankings have been released, revealing shifts among the top contenders. While the top three teams remain unchanged, a significant upset has caused a shakeup further down the list.
The Alabama Crimson Tide experienced a setback, losing a close game to the Oklahoma Sooners with a score of 23-21. This defeat led to their drop from the fourth position to tenth in the rankings.
Benefiting from Alabama’s loss, the Georgia Bulldogs have moved up from fifth to fourth place.
Currently, the top three teams are Ohio State, Indiana, and Texas A&M, holding the first, second, and third positions, respectively. If the playoff were to commence today, these top four teams would secure a spot.
One notable observation is the Crimson Tide’s placement behind the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who are ranked ninth. Despite Alabama having secured four wins against top-25 teams compared to Notre Dame’s one, they still trail the Fighting Irish in the rankings.
Following closely behind the top teams, Texas Tech has climbed to fifth place, with Ole Miss, Oregon, and Oklahoma securing the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots, respectively. Oklahoma’s rise in the rankings follows their impressive road victory against Alabama.
Beyond the top ten, BYU holds the eleventh position, followed by Utah, Miami, Vanderbilt, and USC, completing the top fifteen. Miami experienced a significant jump in the rankings after their dominant 41-7 victory over NC State.
However, despite both Miami and Notre Dame having an 8-2 overall record, Miami’s ranking remains four spots behind Notre Dame, a fact that has likely sparked frustration among Hurricanes fans, especially considering their earlier victory against Notre Dame this season.
Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal emphasized the importance of head-to-head results, stating that it has always been the primary factor in determining rankings.
Conversely, it’s worth noting the nature of each team’s losses. Notre Dame’s defeats came against ranked teams, Miami and Texas. Meanwhile, Miami suffered upsets against unranked Louisville and SMU.
The Texas Longhorns experienced a drop to seventeenth place after their 35-10 loss to Georgia. Georgia Tech sits just ahead of them at sixteenth, while Michigan, Virginia, and Tennessee occupy the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth positions, respectively.
Rounding out the top 25 are Illinois, Missouri, Houston, Tulane, and Arizona State, respectively.
The upcoming playoffs will feature the twelve highest-ranked teams, including the five highest-ranked conference champions. The selection process will adhere to a straight seeding model, without automatic byes for each winner of the Power Four conferences.
With only a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season, followed by the conference championships, the final composition of the College Football Playoff field remains to be determined.
