CFP Rankings: Ohio State Sits Atop First Poll Of Season, As Committee Seems To Have Actually Got It Right

The first rankings of the 2025 college football playoff have been released, with Ohio State leading the way. But, as usual, there were some interesting decisions in the initial rankings. 

We've been waiting to see how the playoff committee will rank teams based off their new metrics. 

In this case, the debate on who should be the No. 1 ranked team took center stage, as Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M all had a strong case for the top spot. 

There were plenty of factors to discuss, especially when it comes to strength of schedule and on-field performance. Moving forward, you can expect the CFP committee to face questions about how it reached its conclusions. 

Regardless of conference, the top-four ranked teams will receive an automatic bye this season, compared to last year when champions from the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 received a first-round bye. 

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After all, this first ranking sets the tone for the next five weeks. 

So, let's get down to the initial rankings that were just released. Remember that this includes automatic qualifiers from each conference, along with a spot for the Group of Six automatic qualifier. 

Week One College Football Playoff Rankings. 

• 1. Ohio State
• 2. Indiana
• 3. Texas A&M
• 4. Alabama
• 5. Georgia
• 6. Ole Miss
• 7. BYU
• 8. Texas Tech
• 9. Oregon
• 10. Notre Dame
• 11. Texas
• 12. Oklahoma
• 13. Utah
• 14. Virginia
• 15. Louisville
• 16. Vanderbilt
• 17. Georgia Tech
• 18. Miami
• 19. USC
• 20. Iowa
• 21. Michigan
• 22. Missouri
• 23. Washington
• 24. Pittsburgh
• 25. Tennessee

First CFP Rankings released for 2025 college football season

What Did We Learn From Initial CFP Rankings? 

Of note, there is not a single Group of Five members in the initial Top 25.

If there is not a team ranked from the G-5 in the final poll, the committee could pick from conference champions, and decide which team is better. Meaning, a team like USF could get in over Memphis, or the opposite. 

We essentially have a playoff game this weekend, as BYU travels to Texas Tech. Though a loss will not eliminate either, the Red Raiders would have two conference losses. They would then be in a fight with Cincinnati, as the two teams do not play this season. The Cougars do play the Bearcats in late November. 

The committee overall got it right, which is fascinating. The one point of contention will be in the ACC, with Miami coming in at No. 18, while Louisville was ranked 15th. It's pretty obvious that the playoff committee does not think highly of ACC competition, just based off Notre Dame's ranking, compared to Miami. 

Oregon was obviously hit from their win at Penn State, which has plummeted since the loss to the Ducks. At No. 6, Ole Miss obviously did not take a hit with the loss at Georgia. 

Also, there are three Big-12 teams ranked ahead of the first ACC squad. 

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No. 12 Memphis @ No. 5 Georgia

No. 9 Oregon @ No. 8 Texas Tech

No. 11 Virginia @ No. 6 Ole Miss

No. 10 Notre Dame @ No. 7 BYU

Yes, there will be plenty of arguing over the next five weeks, which comes with the territory. 

We were all curious as to how the new metric would be implemented, and I think we're starting to figure out the implementation of these tools. 

As usual, there was plenty of discussion around how some teams were ranked, and this will continue over the next five weeks, leading up to the first on-campus games. 

Let me know what you think. Email me at Trey.Wallace@OutKick.com