College Football Playoff Committee Likely to Rank Ohio State and Texas at Top After Week One
Analysts project the CFP selection committee will place Ohio State and Texas as the first two teams in the top-12 rankings, with Miami, LSU and Notre Dame rounding out the early list.
After the first week of the 2026 season, analysts have outlined a possible top-12 ranking that the College Football Playoff selection committee could release if it met today. Ohio State and Texas, both unbeaten, are projected at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, based on their strong ground games and early offensive performances. Ohio State’s 237 rushing yards against Ball State and Texas’s four-touchdown passing display by Arch Manning against Texas State support their placement, though both teams face a decisive head-to-head matchup next weekend.
Miami (No. 3) earned a high ranking after a convincing win over Stanford, despite the opponent’s injury-depleted lineup. LSU (No. 4) is placed above several peers after a dominant victory over Clemson, while Notre Dame (No. 5) secured a double-digit win at Wisconsin that may carry extra weight with the committee. Georgia (No. 6) and Ole Miss (No. 7) follow, with Georgia’s 60-point triumph over an FCS team and Ole Miss’s narrow win over Louisville, the only top-25 opponent defeated in week one.
Indiana (No. 8) and Oregon (No. 9) are included despite modest margins of victory, while Alabama (No. 10) and Texas A&M (No. 11) round out the list based on solid, if not spectacular, openings. Oklahoma (No. 12) completes the projected group, having posted a dominant performance against UTEP.
The projection notes that upcoming games—particularly Texas versus Ohio State, Miami at Notre Dame, and LSU at Ole Miss—will likely reshape the rankings before the committee’s first official release in early November. The analysis also references ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) probabilities for each team’s toughest remaining matchup.
"We’ll see where the committee places teams after the Texas-Ohio State showdown," said an unnamed analyst familiar with the selection process.
The projected seeding assigns first-round byes to Ohio State, Texas, Miami and LSU, with the remaining teams slated for first-round games on campus in mid-December, followed by quarterfinals at the traditional New Year’s bowl sites.