Ohio State is No. 1 in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, just the second time that the Buckeyes have started first in the initial selections by the committee.
The Buckeyes are joined at the top of the rankings by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Florida State, with No. 5 Washington and No. 6 Oregon as the top teams left out of the playoff field. This is the fifth time Ohio State has opened among the top four teams, including in 2015 (No. 3), 2019 (No. 1), 2020 (No. 4) and last season, where the Buckeyes began at No. 2.
The other Big Ten team in the rankings is No. 11 Penn State, which Ohio State dispatched in Columbus by a score of 20-12 on Oct. 21. Along with a 17-14 win over No. 15 Notre Dame earlier this season, the Buckeyes have two wins over top-15 teams in the initial playoff rankings, and would have another ranked matchup left this season at Michigan on Nov. 25.
Ohio State is looking for the program’s sixth appearance in the College Football Playoffs and the fourth in five years under head coach Ryan Day. Rankings will be released every Tuesday until the final rankings are released on Dec. 3 following the conclusion of conference championship weekend.
Here are the full rankings:
| Ranking | Team |
| No. 1 | Ohio State (8-0) |
| No. 2 | Georgia (8-0) |
| No. 3 | Michigan (8-0) |
| No. 4 | Florida State (8-0) |
| No. 5 | Washington (8-0) |
| No. 6 | Oregon (7-1) |
| No. 7 | Texas (7-1) |
| No. 8 | Alabama (7-1) |
| No. 9 | Oklahoma (7-1) |
| No. 10 | Ole Miss (7-1) |
| No. 11 | Penn State (7-1) |
| No. 12 | Missouri (7-1) |
| No. 13 | Louisville (7-1) |
| No. 14 | LSU (6-2) |
| No. 15 | Notre Dame (7-2) |
| No. 16 | Oregon State (6-2) |
| No. 17 | Tennessee (6-2) |
| No. 18 | Utah (6-2) |
| No. 19 | UCLA (6-2) |
| No. 20 | USC (7-2) |
| No. 21 | Kansas (6-2) |
| No. 22 | Oklahoma State (6-2) |
| No. 23 | Kansas State (6-2) |
| No. 24 | Tulane (7-1) |
| No. 25 | Air Force (8-0) |
