College Football Playoff Rankings: 5 Thoughts on the First Top 25

Oh, is there a whole lot to talk about with the first round of College Football Playoff rankings, with Notre Dame at 11, Alabama up at No. 5, Indiana checking in at No. 4, Ohio State at No. 12, Tennessee at No. 13, and on and on and on, and … for the most part, the rankings aren’t that horrible. Who’s overrated, who’s underrated, and what matters about the poll? Here are our five thoughts.
– First CFP Top 25

2026 College Football Playoff Rankings: 5 Key Takeaways

5. The Five Rankings That Matter Most

Indiana at No. 4
Remember, above all else, the College Football Playoff committee record ranks. Indiana is 8-1, but it’s eight spots ahead of Ohio State, and the best win is against … Northwestern? With that said, to be fair, the Hoosiers did beat the Wildcats, and Minnesota, and Michigan, and came within a toe-tap of beating Ohio State. (The ranking isn’t that awful, but it’s a tad high.)
Alabama at No. 5
May you someday know the love and affection that the College Football Playoff committee historically shows to Alabama. The loss to Georgia was fine, but being eight spots ahead of a Tennessee team that won 26-10 is a problem. Beating Kentucky and South Carolina big mattered, though.
Notre Dame at No. 11
Irish fans, as the man said, R-E-L-A-X. Miami was 18 last year in the Week 11 CFP rankings and was fine. Beat the Canes, end up 1 or 2 in the final rankings. Lose, drop a bit, win out, and end up at 12 or better at 10-2 (remember, Notre Dame is automatically in as long as it finishes in the final top 12).
Texas Tech at No. 15
The Red Raiders got hit hard for their loss to Cincinnati, and it didn’t get a whole lot of credit for their win over No. 22 Arizona. How much respect the Big 12 gets going forward will matter.
Wake Forest at No. 16
It doesn’t make any sense. If Wake Forest is 16, and it’s the only solid win for Miami, why are the Canes No. 1?

4. Where Are the Group of Six Teams?

UTSA is 7-1, and its only loss is to Texas. It’s not in the top 25. New Mexico is 7-1, and its only loss was 14-6 at Oklahoma. It’s not in the top 25. James Madison was all set up to be a major player in the Group of Six race for the automatic College Football Playoff spot, but it tapped out hard with losses to App State and Troy over the last two weeks.
That leaves Boise State. Its only loss was to Oregon to start the season, and it rocked a good Western Michigan team on the road. At 7-1, though, it barely got into the top 25.

3. The Most Overrated Teams

Besides Indiana (4) and Alabama (5) …
Miami at No. 1
It does have the win over Wake Forest, but it was blah in close wins over Florida State and North Carolina. There’s nothing on the résumé that compares to Georgia beating Alabama and Florida – the loss to a decent Auburn was on a walk-off field goal.
Utah at No. 3
Only because of how this is framed compared to UCLA. Utah is No. 3 with a good, close win over Houston, and beating Cincinnati by 24 was great. Nitpicking here, but the three is a tad high, and fellow 8-0 UCLA beat Oregon in Eugene and beat Wisconsin by ten – the Bruins should be higher than eight.

Houston at No. 17
No reason to get into too much of a twist over this, but the claims to fame are losses to BYU and Texas Tech. It beat UCF and Oklahoma State, but it doesn’t have the wins that Iowa, Missouri, and USC can boast.

2. The Most Underrated Teams

Florida at No. 24
Three losses are three losses, and the defeats to Missouri and South Carolina were ugly, but the Gators crushed Ole Miss 52-28 and won 27-24 at Texas.
Arizona at No. 22
The two losses were on the road to BYU (9) and Texas Tech (15), and it walloped Cincinnati 34-7 and took down a decent West Virginia by 21. Being 22 isn’t awful, but it’s low compared to where No. 17 Houston is.
Kentucky at No. 6
Yeah, it lost 45-17 to Alabama in Week 2, but the Tide lost to Tennessee by double-digits and was ranked eight spots higher. The Wildcats beat No. 14 LSU and No. 21 South Carolina, along with wins over Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

1. Did the College Football Playoff Committee Get It Right?

For the most part, yeah, it did.
It’s the first round of rankings. This is just an exercise to get the practice in – and put on a TV show – but what matters most is whether there are any glaring procedural errors. Yeah, Indiana and Alabama are too high, but there’s a decent case to be made for both.
Did the committee get Texas over Ohio State right? Yeah. Did it get Oregon over Boise State right? Yeah. Everything else is relatively nitpicky, with the rankings kicking the can down the road.
Notre Dame at 11 will work itself out against Miami this weekend. BYU vs Utah is even bigger now. Georgia and Ole Miss, Kentucky at Tennessee, Alabama at LSU – that’s four CFP top 14 matchups.
Next week’s rankings will be way different.