Miami Is No. 1 in the First College Football Playoff Rankings of 2026 as Notre Dame Waits at No. 11 and Florida Lands at No. 24

Miami is No. 1 in the College Football Playoff selection committee's first rankings of 2026, released Tuesday night, putting the unbeaten Hurricanes (8-0) at the top of the committee's list for what outlets covering the release described as the first time in program history. Georgia, Utah and Indiana followed, the four teams that would earn first-round byes if the season ended now. Notre Dame, No. 4 in the AP poll and Miami's opponent on Saturday in South Bend, came in at No. 11.

Florida, at 5-3 in Jon Sumrall's first season, was the only other team from the state in the top 25, at No. 24. UCF, Florida State and USF were not ranked.

The rankings are a snapshot through the games of Oct. 31, and the committee will update them every Tuesday until the final rankings set the 12-team bracket on Sunday, Dec. 6.

A turnaround from last season

The top spot is a sharp change from a year ago. ESPN noted that Miami was not in the committee's top 10 until the final rankings of 2025, when its late rise put it in the bracket ahead of Notre Dame despite having beaten the Irish 27-24 in the season opener. The Hurricanes then won three straight playoff games before losing 27-21 to Indiana in the national championship game.

This season Miami has beaten Stanford, Florida A&M, Wake Forest, Central Michigan, Clemson, Florida State, Pitt and North Carolina. Two of those wins were close calls: Miami needed two overtimes to beat Florida State 43-35 on Oct. 17, and last week it held on 38-35 at North Carolina after recovering an onside kick in the final two minutes. ESPN reported that Miami's defense allowed 850 yards in those two games and ranks 122nd in the FBS in pass defense.

The underlying numbers still favor the Hurricanes. In ESPN's Bubble Watch, Miami led the country in strength of record, ranked first in offensive efficiency and third in overall efficiency, and had a 98.3% chance to reach the playoff according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, the best of any team. That figure holds up even with a loss in South Bend because Miami remains the heavy favorite to win the ACC and its automatic bid.

Miami, Utah and No. 8 UCLA are the only unbeaten teams left in the FBS, which ESPN said is the fewest entering November since the playoff began in 2014.

Why Notre Dame sits at No. 11

Committee chair Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director at Arkansas, said the panel is impressed with Notre Dame on both sides of the ball but that the Irish, 7-1, lack a marquee result. "They don't have that signature win right now," Yurachek said on ESPN. Notre Dame's only loss came at No. 9 BYU, its only game so far against a team in the committee's top 25, and none of its three opponents after Miami is ranked.

That puts heavy weight on Saturday night. Yurachek called the Miami game a great opportunity for the Irish, and ESPN's Football Power Index gives Notre Dame a 61.3% chance to win at home. Notre Dame is guaranteed a playoff spot only if it finishes in the committee's top 12, and it missed the field last season. The site's preview of the game covers the matchup and the 1988 rivalry in detail.

A Miami win would be its third straight over the Irish and leave a manageable path to the ACC championship game, with home games left against Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

The bracket if the season ended today

Because the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots, No. 25 Boise State, the only Group of 6 team in the rankings, would take the 12th seed and bump No. 12 Ohio State. First-round games are played on the higher seed's campus. According to ESPN, the projected bracket would look like this:

Indiana's place in the top four drew the most debate. The defending national champion lost 19-15 to Ohio State on Oct. 17 and needed overtime to beat Michigan and Minnesota in its last two games. Alabama landed fifth despite consecutive October losses to Georgia and Tennessee, with Yurachek citing its head-to-head win over Kentucky and its win at Mississippi State.

Where the other Florida teams stand

Florida's ranking reflects two strong wins over teams the committee rates highly: a 52-28 home rout of No. 10 Ole Miss in September and a 27-24 win at No. 7 Texas. The Gators' three losses all came against ranked teams: Missouri (No. 18), South Carolina (No. 21) and No. 2 Georgia, which beat them 27-8 in the teams' annual rivalry game. ESPN's Bubble Watch listed Florida among SEC teams it considers out of the playoff race, which leaves the Gators a likely spoiler down the stretch.

Here is where the state's FBS teams stand after the first rankings:

Florida's remaining schedule is a gauntlet: Oklahoma at home, then a trip to No. 6 Kentucky, Vanderbilt at home and the regular-season finale at Florida State on Nov. 27.

UCF still shapes the playoff race indirectly. Its 39-31 double-overtime upset of BYU is the Cougars' lone loss, and ESPN wrote that the result looks worse for BYU after the Knights lost 41-9 to Baylor on Friday. Florida State, which fired coach Mike Norvell on Sunday, is 3-5. USF is 6-2 but unranked, behind Boise State in the race for the Group of 6 bid.

The road to the Orange Bowl

For South Florida, the bracket ends close to home. One of the two semifinals will be played at the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The remaining calendar, according to ESPN:

What's next

Yurachek said the committee expects significant movement throughout the top 25, pointing to this weekend's matchups. Beyond Miami at Notre Dame, Georgia visits Ole Miss, BYU plays at Utah, Alabama goes to LSU, Kentucky meets Tennessee and Texas visits Missouri. Florida hosts Oklahoma on Saturday at 7:45 p.m.

The next rankings come out Tuesday, Nov. 10. A win in South Bend would all but lock in Miami's hold on the top seed for at least another week, while a loss would hand Notre Dame the signature win the committee says it lacks.