Rece Davis reveals College Football Playoff ranking he takes 'exception' to

The first official College Football Playoff Ranking was revealed, and there were some jaw-dropping rankings.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were ranked 11th, which makes their game against Miami a must-win. Indiana is also ranked fourth, while Ohio State is ranked 12th despite the Buckeyes having a head-to-head win.

However, the biggest issue with the rankings was the fact that a 6-2 Alabama Crimson Tide is ranked fifth, while 6-2 Tennessee is ranked 13th, despite the fact that the Vols blew out Alabama 26-10 not even a month ago.

After the rankings were revealed, College GameDay host Rece Davis believes that is the ranking that he would’ve taken exception to had he been in the room and part of the rankings.

“For whatever reason Alabama and Tennessee were never in the same group..
Ohio State and Indiana were also never in the same group..
That was the biggest thing that I would have taken exception to if I was in the room..
How can that happen” ~ @ReceDavis#PMSLivepic.twitter.com/OFo8vTw2LY

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 4, 2026

“For whatever reason, Alabama and Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio State never wound up in the same group,” Davis said on The Pat McAfee Show. “That was the biggest thing that I would have taken exception to and like to think if I was in the room to say wait a minute, guys, look at this problem. They do have a protocol for having a re-vote. How can we possibly have a Group of 6, Alabama and Tennessee, or Indiana and Ohio State, never matched in the same pile of teams? That is something that should have been addressed.”

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Davis revealed the panelists come up with the six best teams and then rank them in the top four, dropping the next two and coming up with the next four best to form another group of six and then rank teams 5-8, and so on and so on.

Yet, how a 6-2 Alabama and a 6-2 Tennessee weren’t even considered in the same group of teams is insane, as they have the same record and the Vols have the head-to-head win.

The good news is, this is only the first ranking, so it will change plenty, especially with some of the top SEC teams having to play each other.

How would the bracket look?

Although the College Football Playoff Committee ranks the top 25 teams, they don’t give out the playoff bracket.

Yet, the bracket can be determined using the rankings, and then by putting in the top-ranked Group of 6 team. After the first playoff ranking, the bracket would be as follows:

First-round byes

• No. 1 seed: Miami Hurricanes
• No. 2 seed: Georgia Bulldogs
• No. 3 seed: Utah Utes
• No. 4 seed: Indiana Hoosiers

First-round matchups (campus sites)

• No. 9 BYU Cougars at No. 8 UCLA Bruins
  Winner plays: No. 1 Miami
• No. 12 Boise State Broncos at No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide
  Winner plays: No. 4 Indiana
• No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats
  Winner plays: No. 3 Utah
• No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels at No. 7 Texas Longhorns
  Winner plays: No. 2 Georgia

There will be major changes to the top-25 and bracket, as there is still a month to go in the season, which will feature plenty of ranked-on-ranked matchups.

Related: 2026 CFB Week 9 Top 25: Lindy’s Sports Official Updated Rankings

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This story was originally published by Lindy's Sports on Nov 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Lindy's Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.