Ohio State No. 1 in College Football Playoff rankings; Georgia, Michigan, FSU round out top 4

FYI: James Madison is not eligible for the CFP rankings since it's not eligible for the CFP games (even if they get in a bowl without enough 6-6 teams)

Don't miss The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach and Chris Vannini discussing College Football Playoff's first rankings.

Check it out here.

The season’s first College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings were unveiled Tuesday night, marking the official start of the stretch run that determines the four-team bracket.

Next year, the 12-team CFP will make its debut. Each week for the rest of the season, The Athletic will illustrate how the new format is going to work, using the CFP committee’s latest rankings.

Here’s how the bracket would be seeded and the site locations determined using the committee’s Oct. 31 rankings and the CFP’s previously announced 2024-25 game dates.

Committee chairman Boo Corrigan when asked if Michigan sign-stealing practices and in-person scouting allegations came into play.

“Our job as we look at it is to rank the teams to follow our protocols and as we went through it that really wasn't part of any of our discussions during our time together,” Corrigan said. “It’s an NCAA issue. It’s not a CFP issue.”

As I predicted, my 133 rankings are a lot closer to the CFP top four than the polls.

Only difference is I had FSU and Michigan flipped. I had the same 5/6, as well.

Admittedly, Kirby Smart probably has conducted a psyop to convince his players that the majority of the CFB media thought Georgia would go 5 to 7 this season.

But still, it's worth noting the two-time national champions have been downgraded to No. 2 in the initial CFP rankings, when you consider they have been steadfastly holding the top spot in both the AP and coaches polls.

I’m not surprised to see a change at No. 1. Ohio State has two of the strongest wins of any team against Notre Dame and Penn State. I had the Buckeyes there before Georgia beat Florida.

What does surprise me is Michigan at No. 3, ahead of Florida State. The Seminoles have the next-best wins against LSU and Duke. The Ohio State ranking feels like the committee was leaning heavily on schedule strength, but that’s not reflected by putting Michigan ahead of FSU.

And for that matter, maybe Washington deserves an extra boost for its win against the committee’s No. 7 team. That’s the best win of any team based on the rankings.

Oklahoma State is in at No. 22. The Cowboys haven't been ranked in the AP poll this season but have wins against two other CFP-ranked teams in Kansas State and Kansas.

The first College Football Playoff committee top four rankings of the season are set:

1. Ohio State
2. Georgia
3. Michigan
4. Florida State

Those four are followed by Washington and Oregon.

So the two-time defending champion Georgia Bulldogs are not No. 1. That's a surprise. I thought Georgia would get the benefit of the doubt, especially coming off its dominant rivalry win over Florida on Saturday.

Ohio State (8-0) travels to Rutgers at Noon on Saturday (CBS).

Georgia (8-0) hosts Missouri at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.

Michigan (8-0) hosts Purdue at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.

Florida State (8-0) travels to Pittsburgh at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Texas is ahead of Alabama, because they beat Alabama. But not so with Oklahoma.

If Texas has the best win of the year (according to Kirk Herbstreit) because they beat Alabama, where does that leave the Sooners?

Oklahoma behind Texas is silly. Head to head with the same number of wins at this point in the season should matter.

The Nittany Lions were No. 9 in the AP poll this week but debuted at No. 11 in the committee's ranking. In their place? Ole Miss is in at No. 10.

Alabama. Even with the loss to Texas, the Crimson Tide are 7-1 and have a path forward if they can win out and win the SEC championship. This week will be a big test against LSU. But after this matchup with the Tigers, Alabama closes out the regular season against Kentucky, Chattanooga and Auburn.

Those are three winnable games, that coupled with a win over LSU, would perhaps change the way we think about Nick Saban's squad.

USC. The Trojans entered the season with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and Playoff aspirations. But at 7-2, those hopes are almost certainly dashed, and if not for a wild fourth-quarter comeback against Cal on Saturday, they would be in a free-fall.

USC is still very much alive in the Pac-12 race courtesy of one of those two losses coming against Notre Dame, but based on how the Trojans have played the past few weeks, they don’t look to be the class of that league. Saturday’s showdown with Washington will be an opportunity to prove otherwise.