The first College Football Playoff rankings have been released. Where did the Utah Utes land?
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2023 season are here.
The CFP committee released its first rankings of the season Tuesday night and the Utah Utes (6-2) came in at No. 18.
The Utes are one of six Pac-12 teams in the initial rankings, including No. 5 Washington, No. 6 Oregon, No. 16 Oregon State, No. 19 UCLA and No. 20 USC.
“I wouldn’t want to play Oregon right now,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said after the unveiling of the rankings. Show host Rece Davis then added, “I think Oregon can win the national championship.”
Five Big 12 teams were ranked, including No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 21 Kansas, No. 22 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Kansas State.
The top four teams in the rankings included two Big Ten programs — Ohio State (No. 1) and Michigan (No. 3) — the reigning national champion/SEC power Georgia Bulldogs (No. 2) and ACC frontrunner Florida State (No. 4).
.@CFBPlayoff selection committee rational for its top 4:
1-Ohio State (2 Top 25 wins, best resume)
2-Georgia (eye test, no Top 25 wins)
3-Michigan (eye test, no Top 25 wins)
4-FSU (1 Top 25 win, but it happened in season opener, we already forgot about it)— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 31, 2023
CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan told ESPN that the committee did not consider the on-going controversy regarding Michigan and alleged illegal sign-stealing in its rankings.
“It is an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue,” Corrigan said.
The top 10 teams in the rankings were:
No. 1 Ohio State.
No. 2 Georgia.
No. 3 Michigan.
No. 4 Florida State.
No. 5 Washington.
No. 6 Oregon.
No. 7 Texas.
No. 8 Alabama.
No. 9 Oklahoma.
No. 10 Ole Miss.
The complete top 25 can be found here.
Only two non-Power Five programs made the rankings, with Air Force coming in at No. 25 and Tulane slotting in at No. 24.
Per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, if the 12-team playoff were to start this year — it will begin next season — the field for the College Football Playoff would be as detailed below (based on the committee’s initial rankings).
Using tonight’s rankings, here’s how a 12-team playoff would look based on the approved 6+6 format.
Format rules:
*6 auto bids to highest ranked conference champs
*6 at-large bids to next highest ranked teams
*top 4 champs get byes
*5-8 seeds host on-campus 1st round games pic.twitter.com/u2oTAdXlBe— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 31, 2023
