Ohio St., Georgia, Michigan, Florida St. atop CFP rankings - ESPN

Ohio State took the No. 1 spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, while two-time defending national champion Georgia is right behind at No. 2.

Michigan, under NCAA investigation amid sign-stealing allegations, is No. 3, while Florida State is No. 4 and Washington is No. 5. Oregon is the top-ranked one-loss team in the rankings at No. 6, and No. 7 Texas is one spot ahead of Alabama thanks to the strength of the Longhorns' head-to-head win over the Crimson Tide in September.

«We looked at it, the big win over Notre Dame, and the win over Penn State, and they have difference-makers on offense,» CFP chair Boo Corrigan said of the Buckeyes on ESPN's rankings release show. «We looked at it; Ohio State deserved to be No. 1.»

Results of the first College Football Playoff rankings for the 2023 season.

With five undefeated Power 5 teams headed into the first rankings, the biggest question was how the committee would choose to separate them. Clearly, strength of schedule played a big role.

«As a group, the 13 of us in the room, we felt this was the order for the top four slots,» Corrigan said.

The Buckeyes have played a much stronger schedule to date than Georgia. They have two top-15 victories, over Penn State (No. 11) and Notre Dame (No. 15). Georgia has zero top-25 victories and a strength of schedule that ranks No. 100, according to ESPN metrics. The Bulldogs have only beaten two FBS teams with winning records.

Michigan has played an even weaker schedule than Georgia, ranking No. 111.

Those metrics will change in the coming weeks, however, as both teams will hit the hardest part of their respective schedules. Georgia has games against No. 12 Missouri, No. 10 Ole Miss and No. 17 Tennessee over