Miami, Georgia, Utah and defending national champion Indiana earned the first four spots in the first edition of the 2026 College Football Playoff rankings unveiled Tuesday night.
The Top 25 rankings, which will be updated weekly until the 12-team CFP field gets locked in on Dec. 6, featured five Southeastern Conference teams projected into the playoffs and 10 SEC schools among the Top 25.
The Big 12 and the Big Ten had two entries in the hypothetical playoff field along with one from the ACC, independent Notre Dame and Group of 6 representative Boise State.
The committee’s selections mirrored The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first three teams: No. 1 Miami (8-0), No. 2 Georgia (7-1) and No. 3 Utah (8-0). But while the AP poll lists Notre Dame (7-1) at No. 4, the CFP committee slotted the Fighting Irish at No. 11 while giving Indiana (8-1) the No. 4 slot.
“The committee is impressed by (Notre Dame’s) performance on both sides of the ball,” said Hunter Yurachek, the Arkansas athletic director who serves as the CFP selection committee chair. “They are a very good football team.
“But when you look at Notre Dame’s schedule and the wins that they have versus the teams that are ahead of them, they don’t have that signature win right now. They lost in their only Top 25 matchup at BYU. Their next-best win is on a neutral site against Wisconsin.”
Notre Dame hosts No. 1 Miami on Saturday.
Alabama (6-2), Kentucky (7-1), Texas (6-2) and UCLA (8-0) claimed the No. 5 through 8 spots, which come with a first-round home game. No. 9 BYU (7-1), No. 10 Ole Miss (6-2), Notre Dame and No. 25 Boise State (7-1) rounded out the projected field.
No. 12 Ohio State (6-2), No. 13 Tennessee (6-2), No. 14 LSU (6-2) and No. 15 Texas Tech (7-1) are the top teams on the outside with four weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Volunteers are eight slots behind the Crimson Tide despite earning a 26-10 home win over Alabama on Oct. 17. Their lone losses are 3-point defeats versus Texas and South Carolina, which showed up at No. 21 in the CFP rankings.
“Alabama went on the road and beat the team that we have ranked sixth this week in Kentucky,” Yurachek told ESPN. “They also beat South Carolina, who’s ranked in our Top 25. And I think many people forget they went on the road and beat Mississippi State (on Oct. 3) when Mississippi State was undefeated and at full strength. We really value that as a strong win for Alabama.”
Wake Forest (7-1), Houston (6-2), Missouri (6-2), Iowa (6-2) and USC (7-2) were slotted Nos. 16-20 while South Carolina (5-3), Arizona (6-2), Oregon (5-3), Florida (5-3) and Boise State rounded out the rankings.
Next week’s rankings have the potential to be markedly different as there are five Top 25 showdowns on Saturday in addition to Miami’s visit to Notre Dame. BYU visits Utah, Alabama goes to LSU, Oregon faces Ohio State, Georgia visits Ole Miss and Tennessee hosts Kentucky.
