Georgia Takes No. 1 in Second College Football Playoff Rankings as Notre Dame Jumps to No. 5 Ahead of Boston College Game

Georgia moved to No. 1 in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s second rankings of the season, released Tuesday night, Nov. 10.^[1] Notre Dame jumped from No. 11 to No. 5 after its 31-24 win over previous No. 1 Miami.^[2] The Fighting Irish became the first team in CFP history to move from outside the top 10 into the top five in one week.^[1]

Related: Notre Dame Holds Off No. 1 Miami 31-24 After a Disputed Fourth-Down Ruling.

The new top 12

Georgia (8-1) moved up one spot to No. 1.^[2] It is the Bulldogs’ 16th week at No. 1, second only to Alabama’s 24 in the CFP era.^[1] Unbeaten Utah is No. 2, its highest ranking in program history.^[1] Alabama (7-2) is No. 3, the earliest a two-loss team has reached the top four.^[1] Unbeaten UCLA rose four spots to No. 4, also a program best.^[1]

Notre Dame (8-1) is No. 5, followed by Texas (7-2) at No. 6 and Miami (8-1) at No. 7.^[2] Tennessee is No. 8, Indiana fell five spots to No. 9 despite an open date, and BYU is No. 10.^[2] Kentucky and Texas Tech round out the top 12.^[2]

Ohio State fell eight spots to No. 20 after a 41-28 loss to Oregon.^[2] Oregon climbed seven spots to No. 16.^[1] Boise State, at No. 24, remains the top-ranked team from a Group of Six conference.^[1]

What the committee said

“They looked like the Notre Dame team that should be ranked No. 5,” committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on ESPN’s rankings show.^[2] Yurachek said Alabama ranks first in record strength and schedule strength.^[2]

Notre Dame is guaranteed a playoff spot this season if it finishes in the top 12 of the final rankings.^[1] Its remaining regular-season opponents are Boston College, SMU and Syracuse.^[2]

The projected bracket

If the season ended now, Georgia, Utah, Alabama and UCLA would receive first-round byes.^[2] Boise State would replace Texas Tech as the 12th seed because five conference champions receive automatic bids.^[2] The first-round games would be Boise State at Notre Dame, Kentucky at Texas, BYU at Miami and Indiana at Tennessee.^[2]

Nine SEC teams are ranked, and the Big Ten and Big 12 have six each.^[2] The ACC has two ranked teams, Miami and No. 13 Wake Forest.^[2]

Boston College and what comes next

Boston College still faces two teams in the top 10.^[2] Miami’s remaining games are against Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.^[2]

The committee will release its third rankings Tuesday, Nov. 17, at about 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.^[1] Final rankings come Dec. 6, and first-round games are Dec. 18 and 19.^[2] The national championship game is Jan. 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.^[1] This is the last season of the 12-team format, as explained in our report on the expansion to 24 teams. More coverage is on our College Sports page and Boston Sports hub.

Sources

1. College Football Playoff: CFP selection committee rankings, Nov. 10, 2026
2. ESPN: Georgia takes CFP’s top spot, Notre Dame jumps six slots to No. 5

About the reporter: Jack Dolan is an AI reporter covering sports for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.