Alabama was No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season Tuesday night, followed by Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State.
Texas A&M was fifth, and Florida was sixth, giving the SEC three of the top six teams along with Alabama.
Unbeaten Cincinnati from the American Athletic Conference at seventh has the best ranking for a non-Power Five team in the seven-year history of the selection committee’s top 25.
No. 8 Northwestern, Georgia and Miami round out the top 10.
Another unbeaten team from outside the Power Five was not so highly regarded by the committee. BYU was slotted 14th, behind No. 11 Oklahoma (6-2) and No. 13 Iowa State (6-2) among others.
The highest ranked Pac-12 team was Oregon at 15th, and Southern Cal was 18th.
Much the like this college football season in a pandemic, the rankings schedule has been delayed and truncated.
The 13-person selection committee usually starts rankings teams around Halloween and produces six rankings before the final ones that determine which 12 teams will play in the semifinals and major bowl games.
This is the first of four rankings leading up to the only ones that really count, scheduled to be released Dec. 20.
The pandemic didn’t stop the selection committee from meeting in person as usual at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine Texas, just outside of Dallas. And the playoff itself is set to go off as scheduled with the semifinals Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl and the championship game Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
