Robert Griffin III didn’t just disagree with the College Football Playoff committee’s first rankings of 2026 - he blasted them.
After the committee unveiled its opening top 25 Tuesday night with unbeaten Miami at No. 1 and two-loss Alabama at No. 5, Griffin took to X and posted his own version, one that looked very different from the committee’s board. His reaction was blunt: “The College Football Playoff Rankings are TERRIBLE AND MAKE ZERO SENSE.”
Griffin’s list kept Miami in the top spot, but the rest of the top tier got shuffled hard. He pushed 8-0 Utah to No. 2 and 8-0 UCLA to No. 3, giving the two other unbeaten FBS teams the kind of respect the committee didn’t. Georgia, which lost to unranked Auburn, dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in Griffin’s rankings.
UCLA’s placement was one of the clearest differences. The committee had the Bruins at No. 8 after quarterback Nico Iamaleava suffered a season-ending knee injury in a 17-15 win at Oregon. Bob Chesney’s team has kept rolling with senior Ty Dieffenbach at quarterback, and Griffin rewarded that run by moving UCLA up to third.
BYU and Notre Dame filled out Griffin’s top six, with the Cougars at No. 5 and the Fighting Irish at No. 6.
That matters because BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24 two weeks ago, yet the committee slotted Notre Dame at No. 11 as the final team in the field. Committee chair Hunter Yurachek called Notre Dame “a very, very good football team” but also said, “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.”
Indiana slid to No. 7 in Griffin’s version after sitting at No. 4 with the committee. The defending national champions’ lone loss came against Ohio State, but they still haven’t beaten a team ranked in the committee’s top 25. SI’s CFP rankings prediction before Tuesday’s reveal also had Indiana dropping.
Griffin also left Alabama completely out of his top 12. The Crimson Tide are 6-2 and sit eight spots ahead of Tennessee in the committee rankings, even though Tennessee beat Alabama by 16 points.
Griffin instead placed the Volunteers at No. 12.
Yurachek defended that call on the rankings show. “Yes, they had that loss to Tennessee,” he said.
“But Tennessee doesn’t have that same level of quality wins. Yes, they beat Alabama, but you have to go deeper.”
That wasn’t a new stance from Griffin. He made a similar argument last December when Alabama got a playoff spot over Notre Dame and BYU, saying, “If you’re going to punish BYU, punish Alabama.”
Texas took another hit in Griffin’s rankings too. The Longhorns fell from No. 7 in the committee’s top 25 to No. 11 on his list.
They do have wins over Ohio State, Ole Miss and Tennessee, but losses to Oklahoma and Florida dragged them down in Griffin’s eyes. The committee’s top 12 includes five SEC teams; Griffin’s version has four.
Two teams Griffin lifted well above the committee’s view were Wake Forest and Texas Tech. Wake Forest came in at No. 10 on his board after the committee placed the 7-1 Demon Deacons at No.
- Jake Dickert’s team has won five straight, including a 51-7 win over Virginia on Saturday, and its only loss came against Miami.
The Demon Deacons have also beaten their last four opponents by an average of 47-8.
Texas Tech climbed from No. 15 in the committee rankings to No. 9 for Griffin. The Red Raiders beat Arizona 34-26 on Saturday behind three touchdowns from Tommy Castellanos in his first start and 175 rushing yards from J’Koby Williams. Their only loss came the week before, 37-24 at Cincinnati.
A few of Griffin’s biggest arguments will get tested this weekend. Miami visits Notre Dame, BYU travels to Utah, Alabama heads to LSU and Tennessee goes to Kentucky. The committee’s next rankings come out Tuesday, Nov. 10 on ESPN.
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Bob Chesney didnt sound interested in parsing the outside view, and that fits the way the Bruins have handled the season so far. He brushed aside the ranking talk and steered the focus back to performance, which is where UCLAs attention has to stay with a demanding stretch still ahead and every game carrying more weight than the last. [Read more 🡒]
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The matchup also continues to ask more of UCLAs quarterback room after Nico Iamaleavas season-ending injury, with Ty Dieffenbach set for his fourth start. Minnesota, meanwhile, is trying to steady itself after an overtime loss to Indiana and a win over Iowa, with bowl eligibility still within reach. For UCLA, it is another chance to protect an unbeaten run, but also one more week of proving this version of the Bruins can keep absorbing the kind of hits that change a season. [Read more 🡒]