Miami, Georgia, Utah, Indiana headline first CFP rankings - ESPN

Miami wasn't included in the College Football Playoff selection committee's top 10 until the final rankings last season, but the unbeaten Hurricanes are No. 1 in the initial rankings released Tuesday night.

Miami was followed by Georgia, Utah, Indiana and Alabama in the top five. Kentucky, Texas, UCLA, BYU, Ole Miss, Notre Dame and Ohio State round out the 12 teams in the rankings.

Since five conference champions are guaranteed to make the 12-team bracket, No. 25 Boise State, a Group of 6 team, would replace Ohio State as the 12th seed.

The Hurricanes, Bulldogs, Utes and Hoosiers would receive first-round byes as the top four teams if the initial rankings were used for the 12-team bracket.

The first-round games would be this: Boise State at Alabama, BYU at UCLA, Notre Dame at Kentucky and Ole Miss at Texas.

«This has been such a crazy football season filled with unbelievable parity through the first eight weeks,» CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek said. «There's a number of football games still left to be played. You just look at the matchups coming this weekend. We still believe, as a committee, there's going to be a significant amount of movement within the entire Top-25 ranking, and we're looking forward to the task at hand, and it will be a difficult task.»

Miami's late rise in the rankings last season assured it of a spot in the 12-team bracket and helped knock Notre Dame out of the CFP. Despite Miami's 27-24 victory over Notre Dame in the 2025 opener, the Hurricanes weren't put ahead of the Fighting Irish until the final rankings.

After getting a late bump in the rankings last season, Miami won three straight CFP games before falling to Indiana 27-21 in the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T.

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