IRVING, Texas — Georgia climbed to the top of the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, replacing Miami at No. 1 in the selection committee’s second list of the 2026 season.
The 8-1 Bulldogs are followed by unbeaten Utah at No. 2, two-loss Alabama at No. 3 and unbeaten UCLA at No. 4. If the 12-team field were set today, those four would hold the first-round byes.
Notre Dame made the biggest leap near the top, going from No. 11 to No. 5 after handing Miami its first loss. According to the committee, that is a first: no team had previously gone from beyond 10th to fifth or better in one release. Texas is sixth, Miami fell six places to seventh, and Tennessee rose five spots to No. 8.
Indiana dropped five spots to No. 9 without playing a game. BYU, Kentucky and Texas Tech round out the top 12, and Wake Forest, Houston, Iowa, Oregon, South Carolina, USC, Ole Miss, Ohio State, LSU, Missouri, Arizona, Boise State and Oklahoma State fill out the top 25.
Several programs set records. Utah and UCLA each reached their highest CFP ranking ever, and Houston’s No. 14 spot is also a program best. Alabama is the earliest two-loss team to appear in the top four. Georgia has now spent 16 weeks at No. 1, second only to Alabama’s 24 in the playoff era.
Utah and UCLA are the only unbeaten teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Boise State, at No. 24, is the top-ranked Group of Six team and would claim the last playoff berth as things stand, since automatic bids go to the five highest-ranked conference champions.
Utah plays at Arizona this weekend, UCLA hosts Illinois on Friday night and Indiana is home against USC. Three weeks remain in the regular season before conference title games.
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