First College Football Playoff Rankings: Washington, Oregon in Top Six

But neither Pac-12 team is in the top four. Six Pac-12 teams in top 20. Slight surprise at No. 1

Two Pac-12 teams are in the top six of the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, but neither is in the top four, which is the category that matters most.

Washington (8-0) is ranked No. 5 in this week's AP poll and the Huskies are also No. 5 in the CFP rankings as decided by the 13-person CFP committee. 

Right behind the Huskies is Oregon (7-1), which is the highest-ranked one-loss team at No. 6 in the first CFP rankings, the same spot the Ducks occupy in this week's AP poll.

And Oregon was getting a lot kudos from the ESPN panel that analyzed the rankings, several saying the Ducks might well be the best team in the country.

No. 1 in the initial CFP rankings is Ohio State, which is No. 3 in both the AP and coaches polls. The unbeaten Buckeyes earned that spot on the basis on two significant wins, over Penn State and Notre Dame.

No. 2 is two-time defending national champion Georgia, Michigan is third and Florida State is fourth.

There are a lot of games yet to be played and these rankings don't mean a lot. You may recall that Tennessee was No. 1 in the first CFP rankings last year, and the Vols did not play in the College Football Playoff.

The top four teams at the end of the regular season will play in the College Football Playoff with a chance to win the national championship.

Washington and Oregon were two of the six Pac-12 teams ranked in the top 20 of the CFP top 25, with No. 16 Oregon State, No. 18 Utah, No. 19 UCLA and No. 20 USC bunched together.  USC plays Washington this weekend, which will tell us a lot about both teams.

Here are the initial CFP rankings.

 Cover photo by Joe Nicholson, USA TODAY Sports

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