First College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings of the season releasedFirst College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings of the season released
SOURCE: Oregon Football/X

The GIST: The first College Football Playoff rankings (CFP) dropped yesterday, offering an initial look at which teams the Selection Committee thinks should make the expanded 12-team bracket (up from four in years prior).

  • There are still five more rankings to go — including the final bracket reveal on December 8th — but here’s where things stand with five weeks left in the regular season.

Ducks on top: Undefeated Oregon unsurprisingly earned the No. 1 spot after spending the last three weeks atop the AP top-25 poll. The Ducks have been straight- up rolling, boasting wins over fellow CFP top-25 teams No. 12 Boise State and No. 2 Ohio State.

First-round byes: Under the new CFP format, the top-four seeds must be conference winners, meaning Oregon (Big Ten), No. 3 Georgia (SEC), No. 4 Miami (ACC), and No. 9 BYU (Big 12) would automatically advance to the second round if these rankings were to hold until the end of the season.

  • That said, No. 2 Ohio State, who competes with Oregon in the Big 10, remains the betting favorite to bring home the natty title. There’s a whole lot of football to go.