Overview
- Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M stayed 1–3 in the Nov. 18 release, with Texas Tech at No. 5, Ole Miss No. 6 and Oregon No. 7.
- Alabama fell six spots to No. 10 after a 23-21 loss to Oklahoma, which climbed to No. 8; Notre Dame held at No. 9.
- Tulane entered at No. 24 as the current Group of Five representative after South Florida dropped out, while BYU sits first team out at No. 11 and Utah is No. 12.
- Miami leads the ACC contingent at No. 13 but has a difficult path to the league title game, as new chair Hunter Yurachek cited tiering before direct head-to-head comparisons with Notre Dame.
- Mack Rhoades stepped down as committee chair, Yurachek took over, the final rankings arrive Dec. 7, and upcoming games such as the Iron Bowl and Texas at Texas A&M could shape SEC title berths and seeding.