The First College Football Playoff Rankings Arrive Tuesday Night — and Miami Is Expected to Debut at No. 1
The selection committee unveils its first Top 25 of the season Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Miami's 8-0 start has the Hurricanes projected at the top, Georgia is pressing its case, and Florida's place in the 12-team picture gets its first official reading.
Sunday's AP poll was the warm-up. The rankings that actually build the playoff bracket arrive Tuesday night, when the College Football Playoff selection committee releases its first Top 25 of the 2026 season at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, according to USA Today's rankings guide.
Miami is expected to debut at No. 1. The Hurricanes are 8-0 and held the AP poll's top spot for a third straight week after escaping North Carolina 38-35 on Saturday — a year after Miami entered the playoff as the No. 10 seed and reached the national championship game. Georgia strengthened its own claim to the top line with a 27-8 win over Florida, and projections from NBC Sports and others place Miami, Georgia and Utah in the top four — the seeds that carry first-round byes in the 12-team format.
For Florida, Tuesday is the first official reading on a 5-3 team that slipped to No. 25 in the AP poll: inside the committee's 25 would keep a path open, outside it would close the conversation early. The committee's rankings return weekly from here — the next reveal is Tuesday, November 10 — until the 12-team bracket is set on Selection Sunday, December 6. Miami's own argument gets tested before the second reveal: the Hurricanes visit No. 4 Notre Dame on Saturday.
