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 said Miami’s loss to Notre Dame helped create a shakeup in the second iteration of the rankings this week.
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
