One installment into the weekly College Football Playoff rankings and there is already controversy, confusion and warranted criticism.
The first edition of this season’s College Football Playoff rankings was revealed live Tuesday night on ESPN, and it’s safe to say there’s plenty to talk about.
Predictably, Miami topped the rankings at No. 1 thanks to an 8-0 start that has seen the Hurricanes average a nation-leading 47.6 points per game.
Aside from that, the playoff committee and “The Worldwide Leader” made it quite clear that college football’s postseason is essentially the SEC Invitational with some select guests from other conferences.
Seriously.
It’s The SEC’s World
The SEC has five teams ranked inside the top 10, three of which already have two losses.
Alabama is somehow ranked No. 5 after getting beaten by Georgia and dog-walked by Tennessee, who is somehow ranked eight spots lower than the Crimson Tide at No. 13 despite what transpired on the third Saturday in October.
The Texas Longhorns’ loss to Florida and their disastrous performance against unranked Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry apparently meant nothing because they still earned the No. 7 ranking thanks to a handful of wins that are aging worse by the week.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss got absolutely trounced by Florida and didn’t look particularly good in a loss against Texas either, but the Rebels still managed to slide in at No. 10 almost entirely off the strength of beating LSU and Missouri.
In fact, aside from No. 2 Georgia, every SEC team in the CFP rankings is slotted higher than its respective AP poll ranking this week.
Even the SEC teams currently outside the playoff picture are getting all too much respect from the committee. Missouri is ranked No. 18, a spot higher than its AP ranking, despite a loss to a Mississippi State team that’s gone off the rails without Kamario Taylor and that 31-3 demoralization the Tigers suffered at the hands of Ole Miss. Oh, and South Carolina and Florida both got ranked with 5-3 records.
UCL8?
Perhaps the most glaring example of SEC teams getting preferential treatment while teams in other conferences, even the mighty Big Ten, get shafted is where the upstart UCLA Bruins ended up in the rankings.
A perfect 8-0 record with wins over Oregon and Wisconsin was scoffed at by the committee, because actually beating the teams in front of you doesn’t really matter. Texas can lay an egg against a floundering Oklahoma team and Ole Miss can get run out of the stadium by a Florida team that has a sympathy number next to its name, and that’s conveniently ignored.
"I can't think of a world where there'd be an undefeated SEC team that's ranked as low as UCLA is right now."
Jake Butt and Dave Revsine give their takes on 8-0 UCLA landing at No. 8 in the first CFP. pic.twitter.com/jjSXB4K3sk
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 4, 2026
UCLA, which earned its first top 5 AP Poll ranking in 25 years (!) will now have a No. 8 next to its name on the scorebug this Saturday because the CFP selection committee believes that losses to certain teams in the SEC mean more than wins in the Big Ten.
Worst of all, it doesn’t seem the committee respects the Big Ten’s hierarchy this season and is instead rewarding reputation and past results.
Indiana has no wins against currently ranked opponents, lost to Ohio State despite Julian Sayin getting injured late in that game and has looked downright awful offensively the last month, and still the Hoosiers are ranked four spots ahead of UCLA at No. 4.
It’s just lazy.
As much as I’ve complained about the AP voters and the lack of effort they seemingly put into their ballots, at least they had enough respect for the sport to rank UCLA 5th and Indiana 6th this week.
No Irish Luck
I’ve done enough ranting about the two glaring issues with the initial CFP rankings, so let me give the committee just a little bit of credit for the lone thing it got right this week.
Notre Dame is still ranked No. 4 in the AP poll, but the committee actually levied consequences on the Irish for losing their only challenging game so far this season against BYU, slotting them 11th.
The reaction to the CFP committee ranking 7-1 Notre Dame at No. 11 😮 pic.twitter.com/uERCRp0mxK
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 4, 2026
I’m all for undefeated teams in the power conferences getting the respect they deserve, especially in the SEC or the Big Ten where there are more teams than games to go around. Like the NFL, the reality of those conferences is that sometimes teams will have a significantly weaker schedule one season than they do the next. That shouldn’t be met with consequences.
What I’m not for is Notre Dame cherry-picking a schedule full of bottom-tier ACC teams and military academies and cruising into the playoff with its automatic 11-1 record each year. My annual resolution on the Fighting Irish is to give them the benefit of the doubt until they lose exactly one game, and then they have to spend the rest of the season proving to me that they won’t get run off the field by an actual team.
All I know is, once Miami hands them that 30-piece this weekend, I want to end all playoff discussions surrounding this team.
Editor's Pick
No. 7 UCLA Shuts Out Nevada To Move To 8-0