The College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday and teams like Ohio State, Baylor, LSU, Clemson, TCU, Michigan State, Alabama, Notre Dame, Stanford, Iowa and Florida are in the mix heading into the first release of the season. The Buckeyes likely will be the number one team, while schools like Baylor, LSU, Clemson and Baylor could open in the top 4.
The AP Top 25 is a solid barometer to see how things have played out so far this season and heading into the week, Ohio State, Baylor, Clemson and LSU are in the top four. TCU, Michigan State, Alabama, Notre Dame, Stanford and Iowa round out the top 10 heading into the schedule this week. Ohio State had the most first place votes in the AP poll, while Baylor, Clemson, LSU and TCU also received votes along with Alabama, who received one this week.
The Buckeyes are 8-0 this season, while Baylor, Clemson, LSU, TCU and Michigan State are also undefeated. Iowa is undefeated at 8-0 and there are other undefeated teams, but right now they are a bit lower in the rankings and will need to stay undefeated to get into the mix for the playoff. This is just the first release of the season and things likely will look very different when the college football schedule ends. There are a ton of conference games and rivalry games coming up for the top teams and those will really start to separate the contenders and pretenders.
Ohio State came into the season as the number one team and most around college football see the Buckeyes as the team with the most talent in the nation. The team won the national title last year coming out of the playoff and they should slot into one of the top spots for the first rankings. The team was going to go with JT Barrett before his off the field issues and now they likely will turn back to Cardale Jones. LSU has the leading Heisman candidate in Leonard Fournette and they play in the SEC, so as long as they stay undefeated they will be in the mix for the playoff.
Baylor lost their quarterback to an injury, but the team has Corey Coleman putting up some amazing numbers and they remain undefeated. The team actually has one of the toughest schedules left coming up in the back half of the season and that should show whether Baylor deserves to be here or not. Clemson has looked like one of the best teams in the nation this season and they have played one of the toughest schedules of any school. The team also has a standout win over Notre Dame from when the team was ranked in the top 10.
Check here for more on the college football playoff rankings. Check here for the playoff rankings once they are released.