How will first CFP rankings look? Predicting first Playoff top 25 reveal

How will first CFP rankings look? Predicting first Playoff top 25 reveal.

Key points

• 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after losing to unranked USC, raising questions regarding the Buckeyes' College Football Playoff hopes.
• The debut College Football Playoff rankings will commence with a question at the highly top: Who will be No.
• Miami has a particularly good win against Wake Forest, another five wins against Power Four competition and four wins against teams with a non-losing record.
• Notre Dame's best win, against Wisconsin, took a hit after the Badgers were blanked by Iowa.
• Kentucky will be behind all the other one-loss Power Four teams except for Wake Forest.

US LBM Coaches Poll: Ohio State drops to No. 10, raising CFP reservations.

Ohio State drops to No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after losing to unranked USC, raising questions regarding the Buckeyes' College Football Playoff hopes.

Unbeaten Miami is the favorite to be ranked No. 1 in the debut College Football Playoff rankings.

Georgia, Brigham Young, and Utah are additionally anticipated to be ranked in the top four.

Notably, a number of one-loss teams, including Indiana, are additionally in contention for top spots.

Notably, the debut College Football Playoff rankings will commence with a question at the highly top: Who will be No. 1?

Meanwhile, the favorite to land atop the rankings on Tuesday night is unbeaten Miami, one of just three teams still perfect heading into November.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes don't have a dynamite résumé of wins and have struggled lately, needing double overtime to beat Florida State and a comeback in the fourth quarter to sneak past North Carolina.

But at a time when there are so few one-loss teams, let alone undefeated teams, Miami has a solid argument for becoming the 11th program to earn the No. 1 spot at any point in the playoff rankings.

In practice, the rankings are less certain from there. While Georgia is due to be No. 2, there are arguments for a number of teams to land anywhere from No. 3 through No. 7 on Tuesday night. Here's how the debut rankings should unfold.

Miami has a particularly good win against Wake Forest, another five wins against Power Four competition and four wins against teams with a non-losing record. No, the résumé isn't great. But the impression of Hurricanes' strength of schedule change after taking on Notre Dame on Saturday night.

In practice, the Bulldogs would be a clear-cut No. 1 had they not flopped against Auburn. Even still, Georgia will obtain consideration for the top spot thanks to wins against Alabama and Florida. Georgia has additionally been dominant in every win except against the Crimson Tide.

Here's one spot where things could differ wildly from the US LBM Coaches Poll. Ranked No. 8 there, the Cougars could leap to No. 3 on Tuesday night almost entirely thanks to last month's win against Notre Dame. Other than that, BYU has a particularly robust win against Arizona but struggled to put TCU, Iowa State and Arizona State. There's additionally the loss to Central Florida to consider.

Utah might be ahead of BYU be virtue of being unbeaten and having one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The Utes additionally have an SEC win against Arkansas, an impressive win at home against Houston and just routed Cincinnati one week after the Bearcats upset Texas Tech.

Indiana is a tough case to consider. Being the defending national champions and making back-to-back playoff appearances helps. So does a résumé that has some solid if unspectacular wins, led by North Texas, Northwestern, Nebraska, Michigan and Minnesota. The Hoosiers' one loss, to Ohio State, is additionally highly solid. For context, the difficulty is the eye test. It indiana has not passed. The Hoosiers still have a stronger case for No. 5 than Notre Dame. 6. Notre Dame (7-1).

Notre Dame's best win, against Wisconsin, took a hit after the Badgers were blanked by Iowa. Otherwise, the Fighting Irish have no wins of any consequence: Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford and Navy. As with the Hurricanes, though, the Irish can change their postseason outlook with a marquee win this weekend.

Preseason perceptions can and do linger deep into the regular season. For UCLA, a perfect record probably won't be enough to overcome the out-of-nowhere vibe of this debut year under coach Bob Chesney. That's one reason why the Bruins will come in last among the unbeaten teams. Another is the fact that UCLA has two good Major Ten wins against Oregon and Wisconsin but has additionally beaten opponents with a combined 2-13 mark in conference play in Purdue, Maryland and Michigan State and additionally feature a non-descript non-conference schedule.

Kentucky will be behind all the other one-loss Power Four teams except for Wake Forest. That might be not be a fair representation of what the Wildcats have achieved under new coach Will Stein, including a great win against LSU along with wins against South Carolina, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Texas definitely hasn't looked the part. But you can't argue against wins over Ohio State, Tennessee and Mississippi, a threesome that's unmatched by any other contender. Those wins will land Texas at No. 9 at the lowest and might even lead them ahead of Kentucky. 10. Ohio State (6-2).

Ohio State remains in the field in this projection but would not have room for error in November while playing a backup quarterback. Based on how things went against Southern California, the Buckeyes may not avoid another loss while taking on Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan. 11. Ole Miss (6-2).

For context, the Rebels owns wins against Louisville, LSU and Missouri. They've additionally lost to Florida and Texas. While Alabama and LSU will meet this weekend in what could be a playoff eliminator, it's not clear whether Ole Miss can lose to Georgia on Saturday and still have the résumé to earn an at-large bid with three losses. 12. Wake Forest (7-1).

Predicting Wake to come in ahead of LSU might be overly optimistic given how the committee tends to offer the SEC the benefit of the doubt. But the Tigers only one win against a Power Four team with a winning record is Clemson. While the Demon Deacons don't have a great strength of schedule, they played Miami tight in September and have been rolling of late, winning four ACC games in a row by a combined score of 187-31. Highest Group of Six: Boise State.

Boise State should squeeze into the rankings at or near the back, maybe even at No. 25. There's additionally a chance the Broncos are unranked; there were no Group of Six teams in last season's debut rankings, for example. Boise narrowly lost to Oregon and has beat Memphis, Western Michigan and Fresno State.

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