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The first College Football Playoff rankings have been released and the defending champions are leading the pack.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are seeded first as ESPN revealed the projected 12-team bracket Tuesday night. The 2024 champions, who beat Notre Dame in the championship game earlier this year, have been excellent with an unsurprising 8-0 start.
But perhaps one of the best storylines this season comes from the No. 2 team in the rankings: the Indiana Hoosiers. Head coach Curt Cignetti’s group has been phenomenal to start the year, and they lead the Big Ten with a 9-0 record behind the play of Heisman candidate quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
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Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day watches the second half of the NCAA football game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign on October 11, 2025. (IMAGINE)
The top four seeds, all of which will receive a bye in the first round of the CFP, are No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 4 Alabama.
The SEC is well represented in this first ranking, as Georgia comes in at No. 5, followed by Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels at No. 6.
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Rounding out the top 10 are BYU, the No. 7 team that leads the Big 12 with a perfect 8-0 record, Texas Tech, Oregon and the Fighting Irish at No. 10.
Notre Dame may have lost its first two games of the season, but the Irish have won six in a row as an overall team. Their first two losses came against the Aggies and No. 18 Miami in their opener.
Speaking of the Hurricanes, they have the same number of losses as the Fighting Irish, but their recent overtime loss to SMU dropped them in the rankings.
Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin watches his team play Oklahoma in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Oklahoma, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns are atop the rankings at 11th, especially considering the team’s win over No. 16 Vanderbilt, while the Oklahoma Sooners (12th) are also close.
Since each Power Four conference needs a representative, Virginia – the ACC leaders – comes in at 14th. With the top 25 teams coming from a Power Four conference, the CFP committee had Memphis as the best team in the Group of Five.
However, this is not the same format as previous college football seasons, as the committee is using a direct seeding model this time. The top four teams in the final standings, regardless of which conference they play in, will receive a first-round bye.
Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) celebrates a catch during the NCAA football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on November 1, 2025. (IMAGINE)
With the current standings, Memphis would face Georgia, Virginia would face Ole Miss, Notre Dame would travel to BYU and Oregon would face Texas Tech.
Of course, this is just the first of many rankings to come. The bracket will be finalized on December 7, the day after the conference championship games.
