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College Football Playoff Committee Initial Top 25 - My Thoughts - Yours?

Featured Replies

  • Moderator
No.

The Gurus of Grapevine have spoken. Below is the College Football (CFB) Playoff (PO) Committee's initial Top 25 for the 2026 season.

The best news for OBD fans: Oregon is ranked 23rd and would be in a 24-team PO field. (See below.) No. 24 Florida would be knocked out by No. 25 Boise State.

In this season's 12-team PO field, No. 12 Ohio State would be knocked out by Boise State.

No. 4 Indiana and No. 8 UCLA would be in the 12-team field. SEC teams: No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 7 Texas, and No. 10 Ole Miss would be in.

---

A few thoughts from me, and please post your thoughts.

UCLA is 8-0. Utah is 8-0.

UCLA is ranked 3rd in Strength of Record (SOR) and 77th in Strength of Schedule (SOS). Utah is ranked 5th in SOR and 83rd in SOS.

In the committee's first Top 25, UCLA is ranked 8th. Utah is ranked 3rd.

---

October 10, 2026 - 6-2 Tennessee 26, 6-2 Alabama 10.

Alabama is ranked 5th. Tennessee is ranked 13th.

Alabama can't catch a PO break, right? 🤪

---

Week 1 - Texas defeats Ohio State in Austin 24 to 23.

6-2 Texas is ranked 7th. Texas lost at home to No. 24 Florida and to not ranked Oklahoma in Dallas.

Texas's best win: No. 10 Ole Miss in Austin.

No. 12 6-2 Ohio State's other loss was on the road against No. 20 USC.

Ohio State's best win: No. 4 Indiana in Bloomington.

---

No. 4 7-1 Indiana, SOS 31.

No. 12 6-2 Ohio State, SOS 10.

Committee: Ohio State, you should have played three cupcakes out of conference like your Hoosier friends. That way, you'd be 7-1 with a win over the Hoosiers and, perhaps, ranked higher than today?

Ohio State: But we beat Indiana on their home field and ended a 22-game winning streak.

Committee: Yeah, but your starting QB is hurt; that's why you are ranked 12th.

Ohio State: But Indiana's starting QB is also hurt, and we defeated Indiana!

Committee: Indiana's QB being hurt is irrelevant because Indiana has one more win than you do. But please, keep on playing those marquee out-of-conference games.

In the long offseason, it gives us something to look forward to.

🤬🤬🤬!

...

Thank goodness the PO is expanding to 24 teams.

Here's what a 24-team PO field would be. 1st- and 2nd-round games played on campus.

No. 1 Miami vs. No. 24 Boise State at No. 9 BYU

No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 23 Oregon at No. 10 Ole Miss

No. 3 Utah vs. No. 22 Arizona at No. 11 Notre Dame

No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 21 South Carolina at No. 12 Ohio State

No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 20 USC at No. 13 Tennessee

No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 19 Iowa at No. 14 LSU

No. 7 Texas vs. No. 18 Missouri at No. 15 Texas Tech

No. 8 UCLA vs. No. 17 Houston at No. 16 Wake Forest

---

In 2024 and in 2025, three teams ranked in the committee's initial top 12 did not make the PO field.

Straight off the Grapevine, CFB PO committee rankings, where you can find Logic on life support.

On3
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College Football Playoff Top 25: First official 2026 CFP...

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  • Administrator
No.

Jon...you're the greatest with these posts. At Ole Miss would be quite a game....

UCLA's schedule is so incredibly weak....and they caught us at a bad time. The committee is so corrupt...

Mr. OBD

No.

Would Utah really beat 4 through 12 on a neutral field? I haven't watched them, but if they lose to BYU are they going to drop to like 15 or just few spots like an SEC team? It feels like some of these rank are playing 13 dimensional chess.

Us at 23 is lining us up to make the playoffs if we win out IMO.

  • Author
  • Moderator
No.

Things we learned, according to ESPN - I think we learned, again, that the process is a farce and CFB needs to go to a 24-team PO field ASAP.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50360739/cfp-playoff-2026-bubble-watch-week-9

Anger Index? Perhaps ESPN should look in the mirror?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50372396/cfp-2026-anger-index-week-10

  • Author
  • Moderator
No.
4 hours ago, Solar said:

Would Utah really beat 4 through 12 on a neutral field? I haven't watched them, but if they lose to BYU are they going to drop to like 15 or just few spots like an SEC team? It feels like some of these rank are playing 13 dimensional chess.

Us at 23 is lining us up to make the playoffs if we win out IMO.

Solar, I'd like to think so, but ...

Ranking Ohio State 12th doesn't help. How far will the Buckeyes drop if they lose at home to Oregon? And Michigan, Michigan State, and UW will not be wins over ranked opponents.

A 9-3 Oregon is far from a sure thing. The only sure thing would be if chaos somehow sends the in-conference 8-2 Ducks to the championship game, and Oregon wins, securing the Big Ten's automatic bid.

I don't think a 3-loss Oregon will be ranked ahead of 2-loss SEC teams ranked above Oregon that suffer a 3rd in-conference loss, and 3-loss South Carolina is currently ranked above Oregon.

The committee's love for the SEC is apparent, and not unjustified.

No.

Absolute farce of an initial CFP ranking. The tea leaves have been read. The tarot cards have been turned over.

The kangaroo court made it clear that the college football landscape is not P4 and G6. It's P1 and G9.

Only the SEC teams are allowed to lose games and not be penalized. If Georgia, Ole Miss, Bama, Texas and Kentucky lose a conference game, i wonder if they would fall out of the top 12? SEC teams, currently outside of the top 12, are readily positioned to move up by winning.

The SEC may have multiple 9-3 teams make the CFP. Could certain, blue blood SEC teams get in with 8-4 records?

10-2 teams in BIG, BIG 12 and ACC may not make it in, unless they win their conference championship.

ND will not get in if they lose to Miami. If BYU loses to Utah they may not make it in.

I wonder if a 10-2 UCLA or Iowa would get in without being the conference champion?

OBD's makng the BIG title game would not be enough. They would need to win out, then win the BIG title. Even winning out does not get them in the title game without help.

Every game OBD's play the rest of the season is a playoff, single elimination game.

GO DUCKS!

No.

I am glad they are going to 24 teams, because they just can’t seem to get this right. Who you play has to mean something. The Indiana / Ohio State example is the perfect example. In my opinion, Ohio State should be above Indiana. Their body of work is much better and they beat Indiana head to head.

The committee needs develop something like the RPI or NET from basketball. They need to consider SOS, Quad wins and losses, margin of victory (or loss), home or away, etc. They need to stop looking just at wins and losses.

Edited by GeotechDuck

  • Author
  • Moderator
No.

Many are questioning Bama at No. 5.

SI
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SI:AM | The Very Weird CFP Rankings

Alabama got some extra love from the committee, of course, but that wasn’t the only thing worth grumbling about.

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