Alabama is No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, followed by Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State, while BYU debuts at No. 14 despite a 9-0 start to its season.
Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide are among four SEC teams appearing in the top nine of the initial rankings, along with No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 6 Florida and No. 9 Georgia. (Auburn, at No. 22, gives the conference five teams in the overall rankings.) Georgia is the highest-ranked two-loss team, despite double-digit defeats to Alabama and Florida, and Clemson, which lost its only game to Notre Dame in two overtimes while playing without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, is the highest-ranked one-loss team.
Although BYU appears behind three two-loss teams — Georgia, No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 13 Iowa State — Cincinnati received a more favorable initial ranking, at No. 7, despite playing one fewer game than the Cougars. The Bearcats have league wins over SMU, Memphis, UCF, Houston, East Carolina and South Florida, and on Dec. 12, they are scheduled to visit Tulsa, which debuted at No. 25 in the CFP ranking.
BYU’s original 2020 schedule featured games against six Power 5 opponents — Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota, Missouri and Stanford — all of which were canceled when the Pac-12, Big Ten and SEC went to league-only schedules because of the coronavirus pandemic. As an FBS independent, BYU revised its schedule and has victories over Boise State, Houston, Navy and Troy, winning all but one of its games by 17 or more points and outscoring its opponents 428-125 for the season.
Ohio State (4-0) is the Big Ten’s highest-ranked team, followed by No. 8 Northwestern, which is 5-0 and likely to face the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship game for the second time in three seasons. The Big Ten tied the SEC for most teams in the initial rankings, with five. No. 12 Indiana, No. 16 Wisconsin and No. 24 Iowa also appear.