College Football Playoff released first top-25 rankings of season with plenty of surprises

The first College Football Playoff rankings are out with Oregon at No. 1.

This season marks the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

And after weeks of games, and speculation, we have our first official College Football Playoff rankings of the 2024 season.

Tuesday began with several undefeated teams in the AP Top 25 rankings, including Oregon (No. 1), Miami (No. 4), and a trio of upstarts in Indiana (No. 8), BYU (No. 9) and Army (No. 18).

Those teams were featured prominently in the first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, and their Top 25:

1 . Oregon Ducks
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Miami Hurricanes
5. Texas Longhorns
6. Penn State Nittany Lions
7. Tennessee Volunteers
8. Indiana Hoosiers
9. BYU Cougars
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
11. Alabama Crimson Tide
12. Boise State Broncos
13. SMU Mustangs
14. Texas A&M Aggies
15. LSU Tigers
16. Ole Miss
17. Iowa State Cyclones
18. Pittsburgh Panthers
19. Kansas State Wildcats
20. Colorado Buffaloes
21. Washington State
22. Louisville Cardinals
23. Clemson Tigers
24. Missouri Tigers
25. Army Black Knights

The initial 12-team bracket was not released today, but following the CFP rankings and how the bracket is set, here’s what it would look like after the initial rankings:

Top Four Seeds: No. 1. Oregon Ducks (Big 10 Champion) , No. 2. Georgia Bulldogs (SEC Champion) , No. 3. Miami Hurricanes (ACC Champion), No. 4 BYU Cougars (Big 12 Champion)

First Round:

No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 12 Boise State Broncos (Group of 5 Champion)

No. 6 Texas Longhorns vs. No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide

No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers vs. No. 9 Indiana Hoosiers

While it’s important to see where teams stand in the opening rankings, their ranking now won’t be set in stone. With so many big games still left on the schedule everything is open to change. For teams like Oregon, their path is clear. As the current number one seed, all they need to do is win out and they solidify not only a spot in the playoff, but the top spot. Miami might need a little bit more help to move up the ranking due to the lack of true quality wins, but making (and winning) the ACC title game should shore up many of those issues.

The other two spots, well let’s just say we’ll see. In this version of the CFP, the highest ranked Power Four conference winners get the top four spots. So in this case, Oregon and Miami are shoo-ins. The SEC is currently going through a few things, but Georgia is currently at the top so they have the current bye. They still have games against Ole Miss and Tennessee left on their schedule, but they still are in the top spot in the toughest conference. Following them is…whatever is happening in the Big 12. BYU is currently at the top, but man it hasn’t looked pretty. They need a few more convincing wins to really keep their odds high.

The Group of Five spot feels all but locked up at this point. RB Ashton Jeanty and Boise State seem like they’ll get the G5 playoff bid, but I wouldn’t count out Army just yet. Games against Tulane, Notre Dame and Navy could help their case a lot more, but as the Black Knights’ schedule gets harder, Boise’s gets easier.