November is here and, on Tuesday, the College Football Playoff selection committee released its first top-25 ranking of the 2022 season. At this relatively early juncture, there is a lot of football left to be played, headlined by massive battle on Saturday between the Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers, but the early rankings are often instructive. In the first edition, Tennessee comes in at the top of the heap on the strength of wins Alabama, LSU, and Kentucky.
The rest of the top four features the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 2, the Georgia Bulldogs at No. 3, and the Clemson Tigers at No. 4, meaning that quartet of teams would earn playoff entry if the season ended today. Here is a look at the full top 25 at this juncture:
1. Tennessee
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Alabama
7. TCU
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. LSU
11. Ole Miss
12. UCLA
13. Kansas State
14. Utah
15. Penn State
16. Illinois
17. North Carolina
18. Oklahoma State
19. Tulane
20. Syracuse
21. Wake Forest
22. NC State
23. Oregon State
24. Texas
25. UCF
The winner of Saturday’s tilt between Georgia and Tennessee has the inside track for No. 1 next week, with Ohio State heavily favored to remain unbeaten until a late November showdown with Michigan. With those four teams facing each other, Clemson has arguably the clearest path, but the Tigers likely need to run the table given the relatively “down” nature of the ACC.
LSU is the highest-rated two-loss team but, as in most years, the SEC champion projects to receive a bump, so even the Tigers have a path to the final four. No matter what, more intriguing football is on the way, and two of the top three teams in the nation meet on Saturday for the first major domino post-rankings release.