The first College Football Playoff rankings have arrived and the race for the 2023 title is officially on.
No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson lead the initial poll with No. 5 Michigan and No. 6 Alabama next in line to move into the playoff picture.
While the initial rankings aren’t the best indicator of who will make the playoff, they do give plenty of insight to what the committee is thinking midway through the season.
And in a sport with a season as chaotic as college football’s, it’s good to have a bit of a rubric to go off of.
Let’s run through the full rankings and the latest title odds heading into Week 10.
No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers (+1100)
Congrats to anyone who grabbed Tennessee at +10000 before the season. The Vols can only be had for a fraction of those odds after beginning the year 8-0 with wins over No. 17 Pitt, No. 20 Florida, No. 25 LSU, No. 19 Kentucky and No. 3 Alabama.
So far all that’s earned Tennessee is the biggest target on their backs before their biggest game of the season on Saturday against Georgia. If the Volunteers can avoid the upset, they can almost cost to the SEC title game with their final three matchups against Mizzou, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (+200)
Ohio State’s weak schedule hasn’t stopped the committee from overlooking the talent the Buckeyes put on the field. The same goes for oddsmakers at BetMGM, who have Ohio State tied as the favorites with Georgia.
Sure the team is 8-0, but their lone signature wins came against an over-ranked No. 5 Notre Dame in the season-opener and and over-matched No. 13 Penn State team in Week 9. We likely won’t learn much else about Ohio State until the regular season finale against No. 5 Michigan.
No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (+200)
The defending National Champions opened the season +200 to repeat and have done little to dispel the notion they can’t win back-to-back titles for the first time in the CFP era.
The Bulldogs are 7-0 with wins over No. 11 Oregon, South Carolina and Florida. Week 10’s matchup against Tennessee will provide the toughest test of the regular season, but the fact that the Vols are No. 1 could give Georgia some cover on their resume if the Bulldogs lose. There’s no shame in falling to the top-ranked team so long as Georgia doesn’t get tagged with another loss before the SEC title game.
No. 4 Clemson Tigers (+1600)
Clemson is in the rare position of earning its way into the initial top four while its title odds have decreased since the season began. The Tigers were +800 to claim the championship this year before Week 0. Those odds have just about doubled since then.
A near-loss to Syracuse at home seems to have shaken oddsmakers more than committee members.
