This article was written by Gus Wilson and published on Sport & State, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
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Another Tuesday, another College Football Playoff ranking that has college football fans questioning what exactly the selection committee is doing.
Following one of the most consequential weekends of the season, the committee released its second top 25 Tuesday night, with plenty of movement throughout the rankings.
Apparently, ESPN wasn’t interested in giving everyone much time to digest it.
Tuesday night’s show flew by as the network squeezed the reveal between the Champions Classic, featuring Duke-Michigan State and Kentucky-Kansas to kick off the college basketball season.
BREAKING: College Football Playoff Ranking🚨
https://t.co/IwvEyiwuX9
— On3 (@On3) November 11, 2026
But despite the shortened broadcast, the reaction was remarkably similar to last week.
College football fans and analysts immediately took issue with several decisions, particularly the committee’s treatment of teams with identical records, head-to-head results and strength of schedule.
Indiana drops to 9, five spots on a bye week!, Tennessee is 8, Miami is 7, drops six! spots after loss, Texas is 6, Notre Dame 5, UCLA 4, Alabama is 3!, Utah is 2 and Georgia is 1. The committee is drunk. Again.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 11, 2026
Georgia claimed the top spot following its dominant victory over Ole Miss, with undefeated Utah sitting at No. 2.
Those decisions are understandable. What comes after them? That’s where things get interesting.
Alabama cracks the top three, still five spots above Tennessee
Apparently, beating Alabama by 16 points isn’t enough to be considered in the same conversation as Alabama.
The Crimson Tide climbed from No. 5 to No. 3 after dismantling LSU 31-13 in Baton Rouge, becoming the earliest two-loss team to reach the CFP’s top four in the ranking’s history.
Meanwhile, the undefeated UCLA Bruins sit one spot below at No. 4 despite sporting a perfect 9-0 record.
I’m so glad we have such a sacred regular season in college football where you can lose not once but TWICE and you can still be ranked ahead of a 9-0 team.
Like I’ve been telling you….you’ve been lied to for the past 75 years. The regular season matters to some but not all.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 11, 2026
Alabama certainly deserves credit for its impressive resumé, particularly victories over Kentucky, South Carolina and LSU. But the committee’s continued treatment of Tennessee is becoming increasingly difficult to understand.
The Volunteers improved to 7-2 after demolishing previously No. 6 Kentucky 34-6 on Saturday, giving them another signature victory to accompany their 26-10 win over Alabama.
How were they rewarded? A five-spot jump to No. 8.
That’s certainly an improvement from last week’s ridiculous No. 13 ranking, but Tennessee still sits five spots behind a team it beat convincingly just over two weeks ago.
Remember, committee chairman Hunter Yurachek explained last week that Tennessee and Alabama weren’t directly compared because they weren’t in the same voting “pod.” He reiterated the same idea during Tuesday’s reveal.
CFP’s Hunter Yurachek, on Alabama being ranked ahead of Tennessee
“Alabama was in that first pool, Tennessee was not in that first pool..If you look at their schedule compared to Alabama’s schedule, the committee feels like Alabama has a stronger schedule”
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace) November 11, 2026
Well, Tennessee now has two victories over teams currently ranked inside the top 11.
At what point does head-to-head actually matter?
Notre Dame-Miami aftermath
Last week, the committee practically begged Notre Dame to earn a signature victory.
On Saturday, the Fighting Irish delivered. Notre Dame jumped out to a 24-3 lead over previously No. 1 Miami, ultimately holding on for a 31-24 victory behind quarterback CJ Carr‘s 319 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The committee responded by moving Notre Dame up six spots, from No. 11 to No. 5. Miami, meanwhile, fell from No. 1 to No. 7.
It’s difficult to argue with Notre Dame’s jump. The Irish finally have the marquee victory the committee claimed they were missing.
But the Hurricanes fell quite harshly for a game they were not even favored in. Miami’s resumé deserves respect, but the contrast between how different teams are being evaluated continues to raise questions.
At least Notre Dame fans can finally stop hearing about their lack of a signature win.
Indiana falls five spots for not playing
Of all the movements Tuesday night, this might be the strangest.
The Indiana Hoosiers were ranked No. 4 last week, putting them in position to receive a first-round bye. This week? No. 9.
What exactly did Indiana do to deserve that dramatic fall?
Absolutely nothing. The Hoosiers were on their bye week.
Sure, several teams around them earned impressive victories. Texas defeated Missouri, Notre Dame beat Miami and UCLA remained undefeated.
But dropping five spots without taking the field is still a difficult pill to swallow.
I think Indiana was ranked too high last week, so I’m fine with them at No. 9, but this is why these weekly shows do such a disservice. It appears like they got worse on a bye week.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) November 11, 2026
The biggest issue for Indiana appears to be its strength of schedule, especially after several previous opponents lost over the weekend.
Indiana’s fall means that UCLA is now the only Big Ten program positioned for a first-round bye.
The defending national champion Hoosiers remain firmly in the playoff picture, but their margin for error has suddenly become considerably smaller because apparently taking a week off can be just as damaging as losing.
Wake Forest still searching for respect
Somebody might want to remind the selection committee that Wake Forest is 8-1.
The Demon Deacons climbed three spots to No. 13 following a 77-0 demolition of Merrimack on Saturday.
Yet despite having one of the better records in college football, Wake Forest remains outside the projected playoff field. Its only loss came against Miami, the same Hurricanes team the committee ranked No. 1 just last week.
Now, Wake Forest certainly doesn’t have the strongest schedule in the country, and beating an FCS opponent isn’t exactly the signature victory that will change everyone’s minds.
But seeing the Demon Deacons behind multiple two-loss programs, including Kentucky, is an interesting decision.
Wake Forest’s problem is becoming increasingly clear: The committee wants the Demon Deacons to prove themselves against elite competition.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many opportunities remaining to do that. SMU couldn’t do enough to be ranked this week, and their remaining schedule doesn’t feature a ranked opponent.
Ohio State and Ole Miss eliminated
Two programs that reached the CFP quarterfinals last season may have already seen their championship hopes disappear.
Ohio State fell eight spots to No. 20 following its 41-28 loss to Oregon, while Ole Miss plummeted nine positions to No. 19 after getting absolutely demolished by Georgia, 42-7. Both teams are now sitting at 6-3, well outside the projected 12-team field.
For Ohio State, the collapse has been particularly disappointing.
The Buckeyes entered the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, but injuries and inconsistent performances have turned a promising campaign into a frustrating one.
Against Oregon, Ohio State even jumped out to a 14-0 lead before surrendering 38 unanswered points.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, was never competitive against Georgia, trailing 28-0 at halftime and 35-0 entering the fourth quarter.
Technically, neither program is mathematically eliminated, but with three losses and several teams ahead of them still competing for playoff positioning, their chances of making the field are looking increasingly slim.
What a difference a week makes.
LSU drops big, but still has a shot
Speaking of three-loss teams, Lane Kiffin and LSU took a significant hit Tuesday night.
Following their embarrassing 31-13 home loss to Alabama, the Tigers dropped seven spots from No. 14 to No. 21, and the reaction to Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge hasn’t exactly been positive.
Lane Kiffin isn’t even through his first season at LSU, but fans are already questioning whether the Tigers hired the right coach.
After getting embarrassed 31-13 by Alabama at home, Kiffin became the punchline across college football.
✍️: @ByGusWilson
https://t.co/NxjI7l4NQq— Sport & State (@SportNState) November 8, 2026
But unlike Ohio State and Ole Miss, LSU still has a couple of enormous opportunities to rebuild its resumé.
The Tigers have upcoming matchups against No. 6 Texas and No. 8 Tennessee, giving Kiffin’s squad the chance to earn two victories over teams currently positioned to make the playoff.
Would finishing 9-3 guarantee LSU a spot? Absolutely not.
But considering how much the committee values quality wins and difficult schedules, defeating both would certainly make the Tigers worth discussing.
It’s a long shot, but don’t completely write off LSU just yet.
This year’s 24-team playoff
Since the 24-team playoff became official Monday, I’ll begin including a look at what the expanded field would resemble if it were already in place this season.
I have to admit, some of these potential matchups are pretty intriguing.
Here’s how the CFP’s proposed 24-team expanded playoff bracket would look if using the selection committee’s rankings today. https://t.co/1pqQGLjE08
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 11, 2026
Using Tuesday’s rankings and the approved 24-team format, the top eight teams would receive first-round byes, leaving the next 16 programs to compete in eight on-campus matchups.
Among the hypothetical first-round games:
- No. 17 South Carolina at No. 16 Oregon
- No. 21 LSU at No. 12 Texas Tech
- No. 20 Ohio State at No. 13 Wake Forest
- No. 18 USC at No. 15 Iowa
- No. 19 Ole Miss at No. 14 Houston
That’s a pretty entertaining slate of football.
Now, I’m still not convinced eliminating any of the other Power Four conference title games is worth expanding the playoff this dramatically, but the thought of eight additional postseason games being played on college campuses is difficult to ignore.
Especially when the matchups look like this. Maybe the 24-team playoff isn’t all bad.
With another rankings reveal in the books, the committee has once again given college football fans plenty to argue about and we’re only two weeks into the rankings. With several major conference matchups remaining and four rankings releases still to come before Selection Sunday, plenty can change between now and December.
If the first two weeks have taught us anything, it’s that trying to predict the selection committee’s next decision might be harder than actually making the playoff.
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