Georgia vaults to No. 1 in second CFP rankings as Miami's unbeaten run ends

The College Football Playoff selection committee released its second top 25 of the season Tuesday night, moving Georgia to No. 1 for the first time this year after previously top-ranked Miami suffered its first loss. Utah, still unbeaten, moved to No. 2, with Alabama at No. 3 and UCLA, also unbeaten, jumping to No. 4. Notre Dame, Texas and Miami rounded out the next three spots, according to the rankings as reproduced by LSU's athletics department, which tracks the weekly release.

The shake-up followed Notre Dame's 31-24 win over Miami in South Bend on November 7, which ended the Hurricanes' 8-0 start. Miami trailed 17-3 at halftime, and quarterback Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes in a second-half comeback attempt that fell short. Miami fell to No. 7 in the committee's rankings, a steeper drop than most analysts had projected.

A reshaped top 12

With 12 teams set to make the playoff field under the current format, the committee's board showed Tennessee, Indiana, BYU, Kentucky and Texas Tech filling out the rest of the bracket picture behind the new top seven. Alabama's rise to No. 3 followed a road win over LSU, while Utah strengthened its case with a win over BYU in the teams' annual rivalry game. The NCAA's own preview of the release had flagged Notre Dame's win over Miami as the kind of result the committee tends to reward.

Four more weekly rankings are scheduled before the committee reveals the final 12-team field and seeding on December 6. Conference championship weekend, in early December, is expected to reshuffle the board again, particularly among one-loss contenders jockeying for a top-four seed and the first-round bye that comes with it.