First 2025 College Football Playoff Rankings Released: Who’s In, Who’s Out?

The first College Football Playoff rankings are officially out, and most of the teams listed went as expected, but there were a couple of surprises. As we enter November, the race for a National Championship continues to intensify, and more chaos is expected to unfold before the final rankings are released.

Ohio State sits at #1, to no surprise to anyone. The Buckeyes are undefeated so far and have looked dominant; some argue they are better than last year’s National Championship team. Ohio State’s biggest wins so far are against Texas and Illinois, while looking to secure its seventh playoff appearance since the CFP was established. Looking beyond Ohio State, the rest of the top five includes Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia.

The expanded 12-team College Football Playoff will feature five automatic bids for the highest-ranked conference champions. The remaining seven spots will be filled by the next highest-ranked teams overall. The top four teams will advance directly to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Memphis of the American Conference was selected as the only team out of the Group of 5.

No. 12 Memphis vs. No. 5 Georgia
No. 9 Oregon vs. No. 8 Texas Tech
No. 11 Virginia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss
No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 7 BYU

No. 4 Alabama vs. winner of Memphis/Georgia
No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of Oregon/Texas Tech
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. winner of Virginia/Ole Miss
No. 2 Indiana vs. winner of Notre Dame/BYU

Reflecting on the selections, the Committee got it right for the most part. I do believe Memphis is the most deserving as of now to earn the lone bid from the Group of 5.

However, Notre Dame earning the #10 ranking remains the biggest question mark. After losing their first two games of the season to Miami and Texas A&M, the Irish have rallied off six straight wins and will most likely win out with an easy schedule remaining in their last four games.

Some could make the argument that Miami, which came in at #18, should be ahead of them after beating them head-to-head. I’m not on board with that argument, but one could propose  it. The argument I would make is for Louisville, who beat Miami on the road and their only loss is in overtime to Virginia, who is ranked #11 by the Committee. Louisville has the wins to jump Notre Dame’s resume, as the Irish’s biggest win this season is against USC at home.

Head-to-head, I would take Notre Dame over Louisville on a neutral field, but the selection process isn’t about hypotheticals. It’s about the resume and the strength of the schedule. Notre Dame didn’t take care of business when it needed to, and having a poor strength of schedule shouldn’t be rewarded. They also don’t have to play in a Conference Championship game where the Committee can make reaction selections after Conference Championship Week.

As it stands, if the Committee has them currently ranked #10, I don’t see how Notre Dame doesn’t make it into the College Football Playoff, with the schedule they have remaining.

Vs Navy
@ Pittsburgh
Vs Syracuse
@ Stanford

This one is pretty obvious, and it’s not close with #9 Oregon at #8 Texas Tech. Two teams, both with one loss and still have a shot to win the conference. The return of quarterback Behren Morton last week against Kansas State showed Texas Tech can compete with anyone in the country and could be a sleeper pick to win the whole thing.

The final selection committee rankings for the 2025 season will be released on Sunday, December 7th. The committee will also announce the 12-team playoff bracket as well as game locations and sites.

The College Football Playoff will air on ABC, ESPN, and TNT.

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