Georgia is No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday, ahead of Utah in the latest Top 25.
The Utes defeated BYU and with a 9-0 record would receive a first-round bye and play the winner of BYU and No. 7 Miami in the quarterfinals if the current rankings were used to create the playoff bracket.
CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek acknowledged that Miami’s loss to Notre Dame helped create a shakeup in the second iteration of the rankings this week.
“Notre Dame had a lot of respect from the committee (last week),” Yurachek said on ESPN. “A dominant team. Balanced team on both sides of the ball, but had yet to have that signature win. They had that opportunity Saturday night, and they looked like the Notre Dame team that should be ranked No. 5. They were up 24-3, they were dominating that game.
“Miami kind of found their way with their offense. But then you look at what happened in front of Notre Dame with BYU losing, Ole Miss losing. It was an easy time to move them to No. 5.”
Undefeated UCLA (9-0) is fourth behind Alabama. The Crimson Tide (7-2) lead the country in strength of schedule.
Yurachek noted Alabama’s three wins against the CFP Top 25 as the reason the committee kept the Crimson Tide ahead of No. 8 Tennessee in the SEC. The Vols have a head-to-head win over Alabama.
Notre Dame (8-1) moved up six spots to No. 5 after beating Miami. Texas, 4-0 against the CFP Top 25, was No. 6 ahead of the Hurricanes, who come off of their only loss of the season last week and checked in at No. 7.
Tennessee (7-2) is eighth with signature wins against Alabama and Kentucky.
Indiana (8-1) suffered one of the week’s biggest drops, falling five spots to No. 9 despite having a bye. BYU (7-2) slipped one place to No. 10 after its loss to Utah. The Cougars have a win over Notre Dame, but lost the following week to UCF.
Kentucky is in the top six in strength of record and strength of schedule. The Wildcats (7-2) are 11th.
No. 12 Texas Tech (8-1) has a strength of schedule of 74, and Wake Forest (8-1) is 13th.
No. 14 Houston (7-2) and No. 15 Iowa (7-2) are among the teams with two losses, along with No. 18 Southern California (7-2) and No. 23 Arizona (7-2).
No. 22 Missouri (6-3) faces top-ranked Georgia this week after landing behind No. 19 Ole Miss (6-3), No. 20 Ohio State (6-3) and No. 21 LSU (6-3) in Tuesday’s rankings.
Oklahoma State (6-3) joined the rankings at No. 25.
–Field Level Media
