Alabama and Clemson played for the national championship last season, and the College Football Playoff selection committee hasn’t seen anything since then to change its mind about the top two teams.
In the committee’s first Top 25 rankings of the season, unveiled Tuesday night, defending national champion Alabama was pegged No. 1 and Clemson No. 2.
Michigan was ranked No. 3 and, in a major surprise, Texas A&M No. 4.
Alabama, Clemson and Michigan are undefeated, all 8-0, while once-beaten Texas A&M got the committee’s nod for No. 4 ahead of unbeaten Washington, ranked No. 5. The committee cited the Aggies’ stronger schedule for placing them ahead of the Huskies.
Although media and coaches’ polls have been ranking teams since August, the selection committee’s rankings are the ones that count in ultimately deciding which teams qualify for the four-team playoff that determines the national championship. The committee will re-rank the teams each week through Dec. 4, when it will place the top four in the national semifinals, which this season will be played in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
Rounding out the top 10 in Tuesday’s initial rankings: No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Louisville, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Nebraska.
In Alabama, Texas A&M and Auburn, the SEC West has three teams in the top nine, including half of the top four. A&M lost at Alabama 33-14 two weeks ago.
“The committee in our mind believed that Texas A&M had played a stronger schedule at this point in time of the season over Washington,” Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt, the committee chairman, said on the ESPN show that unveiled the rankings. “Texas A&M has got four wins against teams that have better records than .500, compared to Washington only having two wins against teams that have .500 or better records.”
The committee’s assessments differed from this week’s Associated Press media poll in several significant ways. The committee flip-flopped Michigan and Clemson from the AP poll, ranked Washington one spot lower and Texas A&M three spots higher than the AP poll and moved Penn State all the way up to No. 12 from the AP’s No. 20.
The Big 12 didn’t fare well in the committee’s rankings, with Oklahoma that league’s highest-rated team at No. 14.
The rankings — especially the top four — are of particular interest this season to the Peach Bowl, which will host the biggest game in its 49-year history Dec. 31: a semifinal matching the Nos. 1 and 4 teams or the Nos. 2 and 3 teams.
If Alabama remains ranked No. 1 on Dec. 4, it likely would play in the Peach Bowl because the selection committee’s guidelines call for the top seed to generally be assigned to the semifinal nearest its campus.
Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 in last season’s national championship game and has won four national titles in the past seven seasons.
