Georgia Takes No. 1 in College Football Playoff Rankings

Georgia is the new No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, leading a top four that leaves only two undefeated teams in the sport.

The selection committee’s second of six rankings, unveiled Nov. 10 for games played through Saturday, Nov. 7, has Georgia (8-1) at No. 1, followed by Utah (9-0), Alabama (7-2) and UCLA (9-0).

This marks the 74th edition of the CFP selection committee rankings, with the inaugural poll dating to Oct. 28, 2014. Georgia’s ascent to the top spot displaces Miami, and the Bulldogs’ 16th week at No. 1 ranks second only to Alabama’s 24 in the CFP era.

Utah’s position at No. 2 represents the highest ranking in program history, improving on last week’s No. 3, while UCLA’s No. 4 standing is the best in school history, up from No. 8. With UCLA and Utah as the only unbeaten teams remaining in the FBS entering Week 11, this second ranking features the fewest undefeated squads since 2014.

The biggest mover was Notre Dame, which jumped from No. 11 to No. 5 after knocking off then-No. 1 Miami; the Hurricanes fell six spots to No. 7. Notre Dame is the first team in CFP history to leap from outside the top 10 into the top 5 in one week, according to the official release.

Other states that moved up include Oregon, which climbed seven spots from No. 23 to No. 16, Tennessee (up five from No. 13 to No. 8), and UCLA (up four from No. 8 to No. 4), while Houston enters the rankings this week.

With three weeks of regular-season play left, that top four would earn first-round byes, while No. 24 Boise State holds the highest Group of 6 spot and the No. 12 seed.

Conference representation in the top 25 heavily favors the SEC, which places nine teams in the poll, followed by the Big Ten and Big 12 with six apiece. The SEC contingent includes Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri.

The Big Ten’s six are UCLA, Indiana, Iowa, Oregon, Southern California and Ohio State, while the Big 12 features Utah, BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, Arizona and Oklahoma State. The ACC contributes Miami and Wake Forest, Notre Dame stands as the lone independent, and Boise State represents the Pac-12.

The 12-team bracket taking shape

Based on Tuesday’s rankings, the first-round games on campus Dec. 18 and 19 would be No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 11 Kentucky at No. 6 Texas, No. 10 BYU at No. 7 Miami, and No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Tennessee, per the bracket projection on NCAA.com.

The quarterfinal pairings would see the Boise State-Notre Dame winner face No. 4 UCLA, the Kentucky-Texas victor take on No. 3 Alabama, the BYU-Miami winner meet No. 2 Utah, and the Indiana-Tennessee winner challenge No. 1 Georgia. The 12-team field comprises the champions from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, the highest-ranked team from the Group of 6 conferences, and the next seven highest-ranked teams.

Following the on-campus first round, quarterfinals and semifinals rotate among six traditional bowl games: the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Quarterfinals follow on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1, and the national championship is set for Monday, Jan. 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the CFP office confirmed.

The bubble after Week 10

Texas Tech, at No. 12, would be left out if the season ended today: the No. 12 seed belongs to No. 24 Boise State as the highest-ranked Group of 6 team. ESPN’s Bubble Watch labels the Red Raiders “first team out.”

Texas Tech’s resume includes victories over No. 14 Houston and No. 23 Arizona, and the Red Raiders rank 16th in ESPN’s strength of record metric. They are the most likely opponent to face Utah in the Big 12 title game, which would guarantee the conference champion a playoff berth, though Texas Tech faces consecutive road games at No. 25 Oklahoma State and Baylor.

In the ACC, No. 13 Wake Forest is also “first team out.”, while No. 11 Kentucky is the SEC’s last team in under the same ESPN tracking.

Kentucky, despite two blowout defeats on its schedule, ranks among the top six in both strength of record and strength of schedule.

The Big Ten is down to two teams in the projected field — No. 4 UCLA and No. 9 Indiana, which dropped five spots during a bye week — after Ohio State’s home loss to Oregon; the Buckeyes fell to No. 20 at 6-3. Oregon, USC, Ohio State and Wisconsin remain “still in the mix” for a Big Ten title game berth, ESPN reports.

Ohio State, now 6-3 at No. 20 following its home defeat to Oregon, could fall out of the top 25 entirely. Oregon, at 6-3, sits at No. 16 as the highest-ranked three-loss team, while Oklahoma remains unranked. One SEC team’s profile includes wins against LSU, Kentucky and South Carolina, a victory over Mississippi State before Kamario Taylor’s season-ending injury, and a three-point loss to Georgia.

Alabama at No. 3 is the earliest a two-loss team has reached the top four in the CFP era, beating Auburn’s Nov. 28, 2017 mark, and the two remaining undefeated teams match the fewest in a second ranking since 2014. Georgia’s 16th week at No. 1 trails only Alabama’s 24, the CFP release notes.

Miami dropped six spots to No. 7 after its loss to Notre Dame, a game in which the Hurricanes played without star receiver Malachi Toney for the first time this season. The committee previously elevated Miami over Notre Dame in the final playoff rankings a year ago based on their head-to-head result.

How the committee ranks teams

The committee weighs each team’s full profile using video, data and conference input, then applies four principles when teams look comparable: strength of schedule, head-to-head results, results against common opponents, and other factors such as injuries to key players, according to the CFP’s published criteria.

The committee will convene Nov. 16-17 before releasing its third rankings on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at approximately 9 p.m. ET. Subsequent releases are scheduled for Nov. 24, Dec. 1 and the final bracket on Sunday, Dec. 6. The Big Ten had been the driving force behind proposals for a 24-team playoff expansion.

The third set of rankings arrives Tuesday, Nov. 17, at about 9 p.m. ET on ESPN, and the final playoff bracket will be announced Sunday, Dec. 6.