4 Takeaways From the Fourth CFP Rankings Release of 2025

The newest set of College Football Playoff rankings gave us fresh answers … and plenty of fresh questions. 

The top feels settled, the middle is a mess, the ACC is struggling for relevance, and, somehow, head-to-head results continue to get ignored by the selection committee.

Here are my takeaways from the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

1. Michigan still controls a route to the CFP

No. 1 Ohio State at No. 15 Michigan. It’s so good that they might play it twice.

The proof of this is that it looks even more likely, based on these rankings, that the Wolverines can win their way into the 12-team bracket with a fifth consecutive win against the Buckeyes.

It’s one of a handful of cleanly laid out paths for entry into the CFP, with the top three teams looking more and more like virtual locks for selection into the bracket. For top-ranked Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana and No. 3 Texas A&M, it’s just a matter of where they will be seeded following next weekend’s conference championships.

But then there’s this: The Wolverines have a path to not just play in the CFP, but face OSU for a second-straight week in the Big Ten title game. IfMichigan beats Ohio State and Oregon and Indiana both lose, Michigan would play Ohio State for the Big Ten Championship.

2. Once again … the committee’s logic doesn’t match what happened on the field

For three weeks, we’ve watched this collection of suits ignore the fundamental truth of this game, best articulated in the form of a simple question: Did you beat your opponent or did you lose to your opponent?

The answer is binary — yes or no.

In college football, we respect winning more than any other sport on the planet. We crave undefeated teams only to argue about which undefeated team is