Undefeated Oregon got top billing Tuesday in the first set of rankings on the road to college football’s new 12-team playoff.
A 13-member selection committee released its first top-25 list, and saw what most of the country has seen this year — that with a 9-0 record, five wins in the Big Ten by three touchdowns or more, and a key victory over Ohio State, coach Dan Lanning’s Ducks are the best in the country.
Ohio State, Georgia and Miami were ranked 2, 3 and 4, respectively, in the first of six weekly polls the committee will release, culminating with the Dec. 8 rankings that will be used to slot teams into a bracket. Alabama was ranked No. 11 — the only two-loss team to crack a top 12 that mirrored the AP’s latest poll in every spot except Nos. 2 and 3, where the Buckeyes and Bulldogs were flipped.
“We’re splitting hairs as far as looking at two great teams,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, who serves as chair of the selection committee, in mentioning Ohio State’s one-point loss to Oregon vs. Georgia’s seven-point loss to the Tide.
The playoffs start Dec. 20-21, with the 5-12 seeds in action at the better seed’s home field, and close with the national title game in Atlanta on Jan. 20.
The rankings don’t directly correlate to where the teams would fall in the bracket. The four best-ranked conference champions receive first-round byes, which, according to this ranking, would belong to Oregon (ranked 1), Georgia (3), Miami (4) and BYU (9).
Boise State was ranked 12th, which would equal its seeding in the bracket as champion of the Mountain West Conference.
The committee chose Alabama over a handful of one-loss teams, but the Tide’s strength of schedule clearly helped them leap over teams like No. 13 SMU, No. 17 Iowa State and No. 18 Pitt, who play in weaker conferences.
The rest of the teams in the fictional first-week bracket and their rankings: No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Indiana and No. 10 Notre Dame.
First team out was SMU, while Army, with an 8-0 record and leading the American Athletic Conference, barely squeaked into the rankings at No. 25.
