In this era of college football, the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll doesn't really matter. The preseason projections and weekly rankings are fun to debate about, but in the end, it only matters where the College Football Playoff committee ranks a team.
The committee doesn't release preseason rankings. They don't drop rankings in the first half of the season. They wait until they have an actual view of what the CFB landscape looks like going into the final month of the regular season.
Since the end of October is approaching, it's time to start thinking about those rankings.
When are College Football Playoff rankings released?
The first College Football Playoff rankings for 2023 will be released on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
That's right, Halloween will herald the CFP rankings. The only question left is who will be the most terrified by what they see in the first batch.
Time, channel, how to watch first CFP Selection show
The CFP Selection Show will air each week on ESPN. You can tune in on your TV by tuning to 206 on DirecTV or 140 on DISH. For all other providers, check your local listings.
Here's the complete schedule for the rankings reveals this year:
- 7:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 31
- 7:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 7
- 9:00 p.m ET Tuesday, Nov. 14 — Approximate time during CBB coverage
- 7:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 21
- 7:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 28
- 12:00 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 3 — Selection Day
You can also watch the show on Watch ESPN with a valid TV service provider log in.
How does the CFP selection committee work?
The committee uses a process based on the steps of "listing" and "ranking."
Each week, each member of the selection committee creates a list of the teams they believe to be the top 30 nationally, in no particular order. Teams must appear on at least three lists to make it into the conversation. That's Step 1.
Step 2 has each member list the six best teams in their opinion, in no particular order. The six teams that receive the most votes move on to the "ranking step"
Step 3 has each member of the committee rank the six selected teams in order from best to worst. The three teams collectively ranked the highest become the three highest seeds. The three lowest-ranked teams become "holdovers."
In Step 4, the committee members again list the best six teams from those remaining in their list of 30. The top three of those are added to the three holdovers from the previous round to go through the ranking process again.
Step 5 involves repeating the previous steps until 25 teams have been slotted into place.