Big Ten And SEC Dominate Initial College Football Playoff Rankings

The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference in recent years have separated themselves as by far the top leagues in college athletics. They not only have elite programs on the field, but they also benefit from massive television contracts and athletic department budgets that fuel their success.

On Tuesday night, when the initial College Football Playoff rankings for this season were released, the conferences once again showed their dominance.

Ohio State and Indiana, two undefeated Big Ten teams, were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The Buckeyes are 8-0, while the Hoosiers are 9-0. They were followed by four SEC teams in No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0), No. 4 Alabama (7-1), No. 5 Georgia (7-1) and No. 6 Ole Miss (8-1).

The Big 12 has the next two teams in No. 7 BYU (8-0) and No. 8 Texas Tech (8-1), which play each other on Saturday. Oregon (7-1), another Big Ten program, is ninth, followed by No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2).

The SEC also has the next two slots in No. 11 Texas (7-2) and No. 12 Oklahoma (7-2). However, as of now the Longhorns and Sooners wouldn’t be in the 12-team field because of the CFP’s rules that mandate the five highest-ranked conference champions will get spots in the event.

As such, Ohio State, Texas A&M and BYU would get automatic berths, as would No. 14-ranked Virginia (8-1) of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Memphis of the American Conference. Memphis isn’t among the 25 ranked programs, but the CFP selection committee said the Tigers would get selected as the highest-ranked non-Power 4 conference team as of today.

Of course, there are four regular season weeks remaining, plus the conference championships during the first weekend of December. That means there will be plenty movement in the rankings in the coming weeks.

A year ago, the first time the CFP expanded from a four- to 12-team field, nine of the teams that were in the top 12 of the first rankings ended up making the playoff. The only exceptions were No. 4 Miami and No. 9 BYU, which were both undefeated at the time but lost two of their last three regular season games and didn’t qualify for their conference title games, and No. 11 Alabama, which lost by 21 points to unranked Oklahoma later in November for its third loss of the season.

The three teams that made the CFP last year after not being in the top 12 of the initial poll were Arizona State and Clemson, which won the Big 12 and ACC titles, respectively, and received automatic berths, and SMU, which finished the regular season 11-1 and lost by three points to Clemson in the conference title game. SMU secured the final at-large spot over Alabama, which was 9-3 with two losses against unranked opponents.

While the CFP remains at 12 teams this year, the selection committee changed its format. In 2024, the four highest-ranked conference champions received the top four seeds and first round byes, which is why No. 9-ranked Boise State secured the No. 3 seed and No. 12-ranked Arizona State earned the No. 4 seed.

This season, the four highest ranked teams will be the top four seeds and get byes, meaning that certain conferences could get multiple byes. For instance, if Ohio State and Indiana win the rest of their regular season games and meet in the Big Ten championship game, both teams are likely to still be in the top four of the CFP rankings.

Mack Rhoades, Baylor University’s athletics director and the CFP selection committee chair, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday night that it was “certainly close” in choosing Ohio State as the No. 1 team and Indiana No. 2. Indiana is first in the nation with 46.4 points per game and is outscoring its opponents by nearly 36 points per game, while Ohio State is first with 6.9 points allowed per game and is winning by more than 29 points per game.

Rhoades noted the Buckeyes have victories over No. 11 Texas and No. 23 Washington, while the Hoosiers have defeated No. 9 Oregon and No. 20 Iowa, but he added that selection committee members watched film and “we just felt like Ohio State had a slight edge when we think about offensive line play and then a slight edge defensively.” He added that Ohio State has “some, I’m going to call them, explosive players that probably stood out, as well.”

With six teams in the top 12 and three more in the top 25, the SEC is in good position to have three to five teams selected, although who will get chosen is still to be determined based on how the regular season unfolds.

Notre Dame is another team that is seemingly in a good position despite losing its first two games by a combined four points against No. 18 Miami and Texas A&M. Of the Fighting Irish’s four remaining games, only one is against a ranked team: at No. 24 Pittsburgh (7-2) on Nov. 15. As such, ND should be in the field if it wins its remaining games even though the Irish have only defeated one ranked team in No. 19 USC.

Miami, meanwhile, has the same record as Notre Dame (6-2) and holds the head-to-head victory in the season opener. Still, the Hurricanes are eight spots lower than the Irish. Miami has lost two of its last three games by three points against No. 15 Louisville and by six points in overtime at unranked SMU.

When ranking the teams, Rhoades said it is “art and science,” with the committee considering film study, game results and metrics. Rhoades noted that “for Miami, it’s about consistency and their lack of consistency,” while he praised Notre Dame’s turnaround on defense in recent weeks, its running back tandem of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price and its current win streak. Although Notre Dame only led lowly Boston College (1-8) by two points late in the third quarter last Saturday before winning 25-10, Rhoades and the rest of the committee are high on the Irish.

“When we look at the tape, we think Notre Dame is a really solid football team (on) both sides of the ball,” Rhoades said.