COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Buckeyes landed in the No. 2 spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2024 season.
Undefeated Oregon got top billing in the first set of rankings on the road to college football's new, 12-team playoff.
The selection committee liked Ohio State just a touch more than Georgia in its top 25 — the first of six weekly polls the committee will put out.
Other than that, the panel's top 12 looked exactly like the top dozen in the most recent AP poll, which has been shaken up almost weekly thanks to a bundle of upsets that left the mighty SEC, of all conferences, without a single undefeated team.
See the full ranking list below.
College Football Playoff Rankings: Nov. 5, 2024
1. Oregon
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Miami (FL)
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. Tennessee
8. Indiana
9. BYU
10. Notre Dame
11. Alabama
12. Boise State
13. SMU
14. Texas A&M
15. LSU
16. Ole Miss
17. Iowa State
18. Pitt
19. Kansas State
20. Colorado
21. Washington State
22. Louisville
23. Clemson
24. Missouri
25. Army
What first-round matchups would look like based on this week's rankings
ESPN is paying billions to televise these games, so it got exclusive rights to the bracket reveal, filling the show with analysis and lots of references to “America finally finding out" — a nod to the opening rankings being released on election night. The network chose to fill in the bracket as it went along, which made things a little confusing — a second-ranked team really seeded third, and so-on. But here's what those first-round games would be (with seedings, not rankings):
No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State: Would be the Broncos biggest postseason game since beating Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
No. 11 Alabama at No. 5 Texas: Longhorns win over 'Bama in 2023 punctured myth of Tide invincibility.
No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Penn State: Feels like we need Keith Jackson for this one. Anyone remember the 1992 Snow Bowl?
No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Tennessee: Hoosiers entry to the big-time (football) would come in front of 100,000 on Rocky Top.
What will change after this week?
LSU is ranked 15 and hosts Alabama on Saturday in what feels like an elimination game for the loser.
Also this week, Georgia plays at No. 17 Ole Miss; the Rebels two losses have both come by a field goal — to Kentucky and LSU.
Indiana hosts Michigan and is favored by 12 1/2, barreling toward a Nov. 23 matchup against Ohio State.
College Football Playoffs Schedule
First round (Dec. 20-21)
- Friday, Dec. 20: 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN
- Saturday, Dec. 21: 12 p.m. | TNT Sports
- Saturday, Dec. 21: 4 p.m. | TNT Sports
- Saturday, Dec. 21: 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN
Quarterfinals (Dec. 31-Jan. 1)
- Fiesta Bowl: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31 | ESPN
- Peach Bowl: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1 | ESPN
- Rose Bowl: 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1 | ESPN
- Sugar Bowl: 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1 | ESPN
Semifinals (Jan. 9-10)
- Orange Bowl: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9 | ESPN
- Cotton Bowl: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10 | ESPN
CFP National Championship
- 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 20 | ESPN
- Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
- Aug. 31 – Akron (52-6)
- Sept. 7 – Western Michigan (56-0)
- Sept. 14 – Off
- Sept. 21 – Marshall (49-14)
- Sept. 28 – at Michigan State (38-7)
- Oct. 5 – Iowa (35-7)
- Oct. 12 – at Oregon (31-32)
- Oct. 19 – Off
- Oct. 26 – Nebraska (21-17)
- Nov. 2 – at Penn State (20-13)
- Nov. 9 – Purdue (Noon, FOX)
- Nov. 16 – at Northwestern (Noon, Big Ten Network)
- Nov. 23 – Indiana (Kickoff, network TBD)
- Nov. 30 – Michigan (Noon, FOX)