Miami to take No. 1 seed in first College Football Playoff rankings

AP No. 1 Miami will hold the top seed when the College Football Playoff selection committee unveils its first rankings of the season Tuesday night. The Hurricanes are undefeated and enter the selection process with a record that makes a higher placement difficult to justify.

Three major factors will shape the rest of the initial top 12. First, the committee must decide how to rank the other two undefeated teams, AP No. 3 Utah and No. 5 UCLA. Second, voters must determine if Georgia keeps the No. 2 spot despite losing to unranked Auburn last month. Third, the panel will evaluate the Southeastern Conference, which has no undefeated teams but holds 10 spots in the AP Top 25.

The SEC schedule has produced a high volume of losses this season. Alabama lost to Tennessee, which then lost to Texas. Texas lost to Florida and Oklahoma but defeated Ohio State and Ole Miss. Ole Miss beat LSU before falling to Florida. These results may prompt the committee to reassess the value of the conference's ninth game, a requirement introduced this season.

Ohio State appears to be a bubble team. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 11, have two losses and are without quarterback Julian Sayin. Their loss to Southern California last weekend dropped them out of the AP top 10 for the first time since 2021. Indiana, the defending national champion, fell to No. 6 after an overtime win over Minnesota. This was its third low-scoring victory in four weeks.

Notre Dame and Miami meet Saturday. This game will likely trigger the first major movement in the rankings. Notre Dame is currently No. 4 in the AP poll, having been passed by Utah after a 35-13 win over Navy. A second loss for the Irish could hurt their standing given their schedule strength, which is ranked 37th.

The final 12-team bracket will be announced on Dec. 6. All four Power Four conference champions are guaranteed spots. The highest-ranked Group of Six team will also receive a bid, regardless of conference title. If Notre Dame is in the top 12 on selection day, it cannot be displaced by a conference champion ranked higher, a rule change from last season.

The playoff begins on campus Dec. 18 and 19. The tournament concludes with a title game in Las Vegas on Jan. 25. ESPN is paying approximately $1.3 billion this year to broadcast the event.