Miami is the committee’s first No. 1, and the rest of the College Football Playoff picture came out looking every bit as messy as the season itself.
In Tuesday’s debut rankings, undefeated Miami landed at the top, with Georgia at No. 2 and unbeaten Utah right behind at No. 3.
After that, the committee’s choices turned into a puzzle box. Defending champion Indiana checked in at No. 4 despite being 8-1, while Ohio State sat eight spots lower at No. 12 even though the Buckeyes beat Indiana 19-15 last month.
Alabama was next at No. 5, also ahead of Tennessee by a full eight spots, even though the Volunteers handed the Tide a 16-point loss only a few weeks ago. Kentucky came in at No. 6, followed by Texas at No.
- UCLA, the other undefeated team in the country, was slotted eighth.
Notre Dame’s placement may have been the clearest warning shot of the night. The Irish were ranked No. 11, seven spots below where they sit in the AP Top 25, and the message was plain: beat Miami on Saturday or risk sliding further because the committee didn’t love the résumé. As the first team in the bracket if the playoffs started today, Notre Dame is right on the edge.
“A very, very good football team,” committee chair Hunter Yurachek said of Notre Dame. “But when you look at Notre Dame’s schedule and the wins they have versus the teams ahead of them, they don’t have that signature win right now.”
Notre Dame’s biggest game so far was also its only loss, a 28-24 defeat at BYU two weeks ago.
Ohio State’s spot was even more complicated. Ranked 12th, the Buckeyes would still be on the outside looking in because Boise State, sitting at No. 25, would claim the Group of Six automatic bid. It would have been easy to pin Ohio State’s drop on freshman quarterback Luke Fahey taking over the offense, but Yurachek said the committee was more concerned with the defense after the Buckeyes’ 30-18 loss to USC, which is ranked 20th.
Yurachek also explained why head-to-head results didn’t move the needle the way many expected in the Indiana-Ohio State and Alabama-Tennessee comparisons. He pointed back to the committee’s pod system from last year, saying head-to-head only matters when teams are grouped together in the same four-team range.
“Yes, they had that loss to Tennessee,” Yurachek said of the Tide. “But Tennessee doesn’t have that same level of quality wins. Yes, they beat Alabama, but you have to go deeper” to find its next-best win.
He also said Alabama drew strong support in the room for its September win over Mississippi State before the Bulldogs’ season unraveled after the injury to QB Kamario Taylor. Mississippi State is now 2-4.
The rest of the top 25 rounded out like this: BYU at No. 9, Mississippi at No.
10, LSU at No. 13, Texas Tech at No.
14, Wake Forest at No. 15, Houston at No.
16, Missouri at No. 17, Iowa at No.
18, Southern Cal at No. 19, South Carolina at No.
20, Arizona at No. 21, Oregon at No.
22, Florida at No. 23 and Boise State at No. 25.
The four highest-ranked teams will receive the No. 1 through No. 4 seeds and first-round byes, while seeds 5 through 12 will meet in the opening round.
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