College Football Playoff Rankings Start to Finish by Season

The first 2025 College Football Playoff Rankings will be released on Tuesday, November 4, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Millions of fans will tune in to see where their teams rank, but there is no longer as much consternation as there was during the 4-team playoff era. Still, how much do the initial CFP rankings matter? Let’s dive in.

2014 – 1 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Florida State)

The Mississippi State Bulldogs don’t have as much history as their SEC rivals, but they will forever go down as the first No. 1 seed ever in the CFP. Mississippi State held the top spot for three weeks until losing to Alabama, and the Crimson Tide were eventually the final No. 1 seed after opening at No. 6. Florida State was the only team in the initial CFP rankings that went on to make the playoff thanks to a 29-game winning streak that included the Seminoles beating Auburn for the national title the previous season. Don’t ask FSU fans what happened in the Rose Bowl against Oregon though.

2015 – 2 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Alabama, Clemson)

This was the season that Clemson and Alabama started to dominate the next half decade of football. Clemson was the first wire-to-wire No. 1 seed in the short history of the CFP, while Alabama slowly climbed the ladder from No. 4 to No. 2 by season’s end. Ohio State fell outside the top four after a home loss to Michigan State, while LSU was initially ranked No. 2 before losing three straight games by 14+ points. Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Michigan State were ranked No. 12 and No. 13 after Week 10, but the Sooners and Spartans ran the table and claimed their conference titles to earn the honor to get blown out by the Tigers and Crimson Tide.

2016 – 2 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Alabama, Clemson)

Once again, Alabama and Clemson were the last teams standing at the end of the season, but the Tigers avenged their previous loss to the Crimson Tide in the national championship. There wasn’t a lot of movement over the course of the year as Washington and Ohio State were initially in the top six and ended up making the CFP. The Huskies were doubled up by USC at home while hosting College GameDay in Week 11, but it turned out not to hurt them too much as five of the top nine teams in the CFP all lost this week. Additionally, the four other highly ranked teams that lost all fell to teams that were unranked and had at least four losses.

2017 – 3 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Clemson, Georgia, Alabama)

All four of the 2017 CFP teams were in the initial top five. Oklahoma eventually was the No. 2 seed after being No. 5 in the first set of rankings, while Notre Dame started off at No. 3 but fell all the way to No. 14 after blowout losses to Miami and Stanford. For fans tracking playoff projections and how rankings shift weekly, the college football news section at BetOnline breaks down CFP updates, odds movement, and key narratives leading into Championship Weekend. Georgia had a bit of a rollercoaster ride after starting off at No. 1. The Bulldogs fell to No. 7 after a 23-point defeat against Auburn and were No. 6 entering Championship Weekend before avenging their earlier loss to the Tigers to make the CFP.

2018 – 3 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame)

It was clear that Alabama and Clemson were the two best teams in 2018, and they were ranked 1-2 throughout the course of the CFP rankings. Notre Dame also finished undefeated to earn a spot, leaving Oklahoma and Ohio State to vie for the final spot. The Selection Committee decided that the Sooners’ three-point loss to Texas was much more respectable than the Buckeyes’ 29-point loss to Purdue, so Oklahoma earned its third bid to the CFP.

2019 – 2 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (LSU, Ohio State)

LSU’s offense set all sorts of records in 2019 on its way to winning the national championship. Clemson, Ohio State, and LSU all finished the regular season unbeaten, but the Tigers were initially ranked No. 5 behind both Alabama and Penn State. Both the Crimson Tide and Nittany Lions lost their next games and went on to lose to their biggest rivals at the end of the season, opening the door for Oklahoma to make the CFP for the third straight season. The Sooners gave up 49 points in the first half against LSU in the Peach Bowl though, as Joe Burrow set a record by tossing seven touchdowns before halftime.

2020 – 4 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame)

The COVID season led to a lot of turmoil in college football, but the top four teams stayed the same throughout the CFP rankings for the only time ever. Ohio State made the CFP with a 6-0 record due to the Big Ten’s truncated season, while Notre Dame made it into the playoff despite a 24-point loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.

2021 – 2 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Alabama, Georgia)

Georgia avenged its overtime loss to Alabama in the 2017 CFP National Championship Game to win its first national title in over four decades. Both teams won their semifinal games by 20+ points too as Michigan and Cincinnati were clearly overmatched. The Bearcats finished the regular season as the only unbeaten team to become the first Group of Five team to make the CFP, while the Wolverines knocked off Ohio State and won the Big Ten to vault up to No. 2.

2022 – 1 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Georgia)

Kirby Smart led Georgia to its second straight national title and set a record with a 65-7 beatdown of TCU in the CFP National Championship Game. The Horned Frogs had a magical season, making the CFP in Sonny Dykes’ first season after finishing 5-7 in 2021. Meanwhile, Michigan and Ohio State were both 11-0 when they met at the end of the regular season and both teams made the CFP despite the Wolverines beating the Buckeyes by 22 points on the road. USC did jump ahead of Ohio State after that defeat, but the Trojans subsequently lost to Utah in the PAC 12 Championship Game.

2023 – 1 of 4 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP (Michigan)

This was the wildest CFP ever. Georgia and Ohio State had been the top two teams all season, and both teams were 11-0 in their penultimate regular season games, but neither team made the CFP. The Bulldogs lost the SEC Championship Game to Alabama, while the Buckeyes once again lost to Michigan, as both the Crimson Tide and Wolverines made the CFP. However, Florida State fans had the biggest gripe as the Seminoles were snubbed despite going 13-0. Texas and Alabama jumped FSU despite being one-loss teams, leading to the Florida government launching an investigation into the CFP.

2024 – 9 of 12 Teams in Initial Rankings Make the CFP

The expanded 12-team playoff led to a brand new calculus for determining who would get in the CFP. Only one team (Oregon) went through the regular season unbeaten, while 8 of the 12 playoff teams had multiple losses including eventual champion Ohio State. Clemson made the CFP as a result of beating SMU in the ACC Championship Game despite having three losses.

Conclusion

Over the 10 years of the 4-team College Football Playoff, 21 of the 40 entrants were teams that were ranked in the first CFP rankings of the season. The 12-team era is likely to ensure that teams ranked highly in the initial rankings will make the CFP since they have more of a cushion if they stumble over the homestretch of the season.