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First College Football Playoff rankings revealed | Where did the Bulldogs land on the list?

By Eddie Pells
Updated  November 5, 2024 7:44pm EST
College Football Playoff
Associated Press

The Brief

    • The college football playoff is expanding to a 12-team bracket, with the first set of weekly rankings to be revealed, considering factors such as strength of schedule in addition to wins and losses.
    • A 13-person committee will rank teams from 1 through 25 based on the season's first 10 weeks, but these rankings aren't final until the last poll on December 8, which determines the playoff bracket.
    • The five top-ranked conference champions and the four best amongst them get first-round byes, while there are seven at-large bids with no limit per conference.
    • Oregon, if not ranked first, would indicate the committee has a different perspective than the general consensus, given their strong performance, including a win over Ohio State.
    • The playoff games' schedule includes first-round games on campus, quarterfinals in traditional bowl games, semifinals in bowl games, and the championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on January 20.

Undefeated Oregon got top billing Tuesday in the first set of rankings on the road to college football's new 12-team playoff. 

A 13-member selection committee released its first top 25 list, and saw what most of the country has seen this year -- that with a 9-0 record, five wins in the Big Ten by three touchdowns or more, and a key victory over Ohio State, coach Dan Lanning's Ducks are the best in the country.

One-loss teams Ohio State, Georgia and Miami were ranked 2, 3 and 4, respectively, in this, the first of six weekly polls the committee will release, culminating with the Dec. 8 rankings that will be used to slot teams into a bracket. Alabama was ranked No. 11 - the only two-loss team to crack a top 12 that mirrored the AP's latest poll in every spot except Nos. 2 and 3, where the Buckeyes and Bulldogs were flipped.

The playoffs start Dec. 20-21, with the 5-12 seeds in action at the better seed's home field, and close with the national title game in Atlanta on Jan. 20.

Strength of schedule played a big factor and would account for teams with one loss, setting the table for the likes of Ohio State and Georgia potentially being ranked higher than the unbeaten.

What’s new this year in the college playoff?

The playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams this year, college football’s latest attempt to find a perfect way to crown a champion. That the expanded playoff adds eight more games that were then sold to ESPN for $7.8 billion certainly played a big role in these calculations.

A committee of 13 people will pore over the results from the first 10 weeks of the season and rank the teams from 1 through 25. This is just a starting point, because none of these rankings are solidified until Dec. 8 — the date of the last poll, at which point the teams will be slotted into the bracket based on their ranking.

So, will 1-12 make it and No. 13 is automatically out?

Well, not exactly. The five best-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoffs no matter where they’re slotted in the poll. And the top four are guaranteed first-round byes.

So, for instance, let’s say BYU wins the Big 12 and was ranked ninth by the CFP (that is its ranking in this week’s AP poll). That means BYU would automatically move up to No. 4 in the CFP bracket, since the top four conference champs get byes. And if, for instance, Boise State wins the Mountain West, is ranked lower than 12 by the CFP but no other Group of Five school is ranked ahead of the Broncos, they would make the playoffs anyway.

There are seven at-large selections and no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.

Who stands to gain or lose the most from the first set of rankings?

If Oregon isn’t placed atop the standings, then the committee is watching a different sport than the rest of us. The Ducks have beaten five Big Ten opponents by three touchdowns or more and also have a one-point victory over Ohio State, ranked third by AP.

It will be interesting to see what the committee does with Notre Dame, an independent with no way to win a conference (and a bye) that is 7-1 but also has a home loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 on its resume.

Also, Indiana is 9-0 and not finding much resistance on its less-than-brutal Big Ten schedule. Doubters will be looking at that Nov. 23 matchup against Ohio State.

The playoff itself

Once the bracket is set for Dec. 8, here is what comes next:

  • Seeds five through eight will host seeds nine through 12 in first-round games on campus. Those games will be played on Dec. 20 (one game) and Dec. 21 (three).
  • The quarterfinals will be played in traditional bowl games on Dec. 31 (Fiesta Bowl) and Jan. 1 (Peach, Rose, Sugar). Where the top four seeds will be aligned as closely as possible with current and traditional bowl tie-ins. For example, the Big Ten champion would play in the Rose Bowl and the SEC champion likely plays in the Sugar Bowl.
  • The semifinals will also be played in bowl games. This season, that’s Jan. 9 at the Orange Bowl and Jan. 10 at the Cotton Bowl.
  • The championship game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 20.