Ohio State No. 1, Indiana No. 2 in first CFP rankings. See the 7 Big Ten teams in top 25

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Ohio State No. 1, Indiana No. 2 in first CFP rankings. See the 7 Big Ten teams in top 25

Dan Aulbach, Columbus Dispatch · The Columbus Dispatch

Tue, Nov 4, 2025 ·

6 min read

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Ohio State received the No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff committee's first rankings, with three Big Ten teams in the projected playoff bracket announced on Nov. 4.

Indiana was ranked just below Ohio State at the No. 2 spot, followed by Oregon at the No. 9 spot.

USC, Iowa, Michigan and Washington make up the four other Big Ten teams that made the top-25 rankings.

Read a recap of the CFP rankings announcement below.

College Football Playoff top-25 rankings

See the CFP committee's first top-25 rankings:

Ohio State
Indiana
Texas A&M
Alabama
Georgia
Ole Miss
BYU
Texas Tech
Oregon
Notre Dame
Texas
Oklahoma
Utah
Virginia
Louisville
Vanderbilt
Georgia Tech
Miami
USC
Iowa
Michigan
Missouri
Washington
Pittsburgh
Tennessee

College Football Playoff bracket: Who's left out

Three Big Ten teams made the bracket: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana and No. 9 Oregon. There's a big jump in the rankings before a bundle of Big Ten teams closing out the top-25 teams with USC (19), Iowa (20), Michigan (21) and Washington (23).

Because of the top-five conference leaders receiving an automatic bid, Texas and Oklahoma were the first two teams out of the top-12 rankings in favor of Virginia (ACC) and Memphis (AAC).

How many Big Ten teams made the CFP rankings?

Seven Big Ten teams made the CFP top-25 list:

No. 1 Ohio State
No. 2 Indiana
No. 9 Oregon
No. 19 USC
No. 20 Iowa
No. 21 Michigan
No. 23 Washington

2025 College Football Playoff rankings

Below is a list of the top-12 teams that are projected to make the CFP based on the committee's rankings.

Ohio State
Indiana (Conference leader)
Texas A&M (Conference leader)
Alabama
Georgia
Ole Miss
BYU
Texas Tech
Oregon
Notre Dame
Virginia (Conference leader)
Memphis (Conference leader)

Ohio State earns the top spot in CFP rankings, Indiana No. 2

The Buckeyes earn the top spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings. Their projected opponent would be the winner of Oregon and Texas Tech in the quarterfinals

Oregon ranks at No. 9 inside the top 12 teams

The 7-1 Oregon Ducks earn the No. 9 spot, which ranks one slot above Notre Dame and one below Texas Tech.

Washington ranked at No. 23, Michigan No. 21, Iowa No. 20, USC No. 19

Four Big Ten teams in the lower-rankings spots. Washington receives the No. 23 ranking from the committee, with Michigan ranked two spots higher and Iowa one slot above the Wolverines. USC is ranked No. 19 after a win over Nebraska in week 10.

Joey Galloway would rank Texas A&M, Indiana over Ohio State for the top three teams

Former Ohio State receiver Joey Galloway said he would rank Texas A&M at the No. 1 spot, followed by Indiana second and Ohio State third if he were on the committee.

"You should lean on analytics," Galloway said on ESPN about ranking teams early in the college football season.

First CFP rankings show set to air at 8 p.m.

Fans can watch along on ESPN as the CFP committee rankings are announced starting at 8 p.m. Streaming is available on the ESPN app with a TV login or on Fubo , with a free trial to new subscribers.

Who is Ohio State football's projected CFP bracket opponent?

With its projected rank as the No. 1 team, Ohio State football would earn a first-round bye and face the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 first-round playoff game.

According to NCAA.com as of Nov. 2, the projected No. 8 seed is Texas Tech, and the projected No. 9 seed is Oregon.

How does the College Football Playoff format work?

The five highest-ranked conference champions received automatic bids, followed by the seven-highest ranked teams in the FBS.

According to the CFP website , "The selection committee ranks the teams based on the members' evaluation of the teams' performance on the field, using conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents to decide among teams that are comparable."

The top four seeds are not guaranteed to be held by conference champions. In 2025, the top seeds will instead go to the four highest-ranked teams, as ranked by the CFP selection committee in the final top 25, regardless of whether they won a conference championship. Last year, you had to win a league title to be assured a position in the top four.

The committee also adopted a strength-of-schedule and "record strength" metric to apply team performance based on schedule difficulty to the rankings.

Who is on the College Football Playoff committee?

Below is a list of the 13 CFP committee members who will determine the rankings on Nov. 4.

Hunter Yurachek: Athletics director at the University of Arkansas

Chris Ault: Former head coach and athletic director at the University of Nevada

Chet Gladchuk: Athletics director at the U.S. Naval Academy

Jim Grobe: Former head coach at the Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor

Warde Manuel: Chair, Athletics director at the University of Michigan

Randall McDaniel: College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, Arizona State University

Gary Pinkel: Former head coach at the University of Toledo and University of Missouri

Mack Rhoades: Athletics director at Baylor University

Mike Riley: Former college head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska, as well as head coach in the NFL, CFL, WLAF, AAF and USFL

David Sayler: Athletics director at Miami University, OH

Will Shields: College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska

Kelly Whiteside: Professor in Sports Media and Journalism, Montclair State University; longtime sportswriter, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday

Carla Williams: Athletics director at the University of Virginia

Big Ten team odds to make College Football Playoff

Before the CFP standings release, here are the betting odds for Big Ten teams to make the College Football Playoff, per BetMGM .

Oregon: -425
USC: +625
Michigan: +725
Washington: +1100

Indiana and Ohio State, ranked No. 1 and 2 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, do not have listed odds to make the CFP. The Buckeyes are at +200 odds to win the national championship, while the Hoosiers sit at +500 odds.

Ohio State's Ryan Day not watching tonight's CFP standings show

OSU coach Ryan Day has plans this evening. They just don't involve watching the College Football Playoff standings release.

"The TVs are always on," Day said while at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center today, "so I'm sure someone will be watching it. It won't be me."

What did Ohio State football coach Ryan Day say about the CFP standings release?

Ryan Day spoke at a noon press conference when the Ohio State coach addressed the CFP rankings.

"My expectation is I hope that none of our team or anybody really pays attention to it, because it doesn't matter," he said. "It's good for the fans, I think it's great for college football to be talking about it, but nothing matters if we don't continue to win."

"I expected us all to be looking at the end of the season. Well, I guess we got to look at it right before they make the playoff bids and figure out who was playing each other, so I guess we got to look at it then" Day joked, "But that, and at the end of the year are the only two times that matter to me.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State No. 1, seven Big Ten teams in CFP top-25 rankings

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