NEW ORLEANS (November 3, 2026) – The Selection Committee for the College Football Playoff (CFP) released its first rankings of the year on Tuesday evening.
The committee's Top 25 was officially announced on a live ESPN broadcast.
Miami came out as the top seed in the first rankings, which will face a severe test on Saturday evening at No. 11 Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m. Georgia, Utah, Indiana, and Alabama round out the top five. Georgia, Utah and Alabama each face ranked match-ups on Saturday.
The committee will continue to update the rankings each Tuesday through December 1; the final rankings as well as the playoff match-ups and bowl assignments will be announced on Sunday, December 6, on ESPN.
College Football Playoff Rankings, 11/3/26
1. Miami
2. Georgia
3. Utah
4. Indiana
5. Alabama
6. Kentucky
7. Texas
8. UCLA
9, BYU
10. Ole Miss
11. Notre Dame
12. Ohio State
13. Tennessee
14. LSU
15. Texas Tech
16. Wake Forest
17. Houston
18. Missouri
19. Iowa
20. USC
21. South Carolina
22. Arizona
23. Oregon
24. Florida
25. Boise State
This season will mark the seventh time that the Allstate Sugar Bowl has doubled as a College Football Playoff game and the first time as a CFP Semifinal game in the 12-team playoff era.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl kicks off on January 15. 2027 at 6:30 p.m. CST at the Caesars Superdome.
Previously, the Sugar Bowl hosted four Playoff Semifinals (2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023 seasons) in the four-team format before hosting CFP Quarterfinals during the last two seasons.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the competition that crowns the true national champion in college football. The format of the CFP is built on a 12-team bracket. The 12 participating schools are the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference or Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The University of Notre Dame will be included in the playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final CFP rankings. Four CFP First-Round games are played on host campuses, followed by the CFP Quarterfinals and CFP Semifinals, which rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The CFP National Championship will be played on Monday, January 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
