Clemson checks in at No. 3 in first release of 2020 College Football Playoff Rankings
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The Playoff Committee released the first set of rankings for the 2020 season a few minutes ago and Clemson checked in at No. 3.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said that the ranking matched his Top 4.
“Exactly what I had. I had Bama, Notre Dame, and I moved Clemson over them this week to No. 3 and moved Ohio State down to No. 4. You can say, ‘well they’ve only played four games’, but we had no problem moving them up to No. 2 after that played one or two games. They’ve (Ohio State) got some things to shore up. I think the committee got it right.”
David Pollack followed up that it was great to see the CFB Playoff Committee send the message that they were going to pick who they think the best teams are.
“It’s great to see right now, first rankings, that they are ready to say, ‘You’ve got one loss in your column, and I still think you are a better team than Ohio State.’ I think that’s a great message for us to receive. I love seeing that because I do think in the end I want them to pick the best team, not who has a zero in the loss column.”
The Tigers have been ranked in the Top 4 in all but once since the first week of rankings back in 2015. The only week they were left out was Week 1 last season. The Tigers have now been ranked in the Top 4 in 30 of the last 31 CFP Playoff releases.
Clemson 30 rankings in the Playoff Poll are tops all-time, making them the most prolific program in the CFB Playoff Era's history with five consecutive trips to the playoff under their belt along with winning two national titles in that time.
Alabama is second with 29 weeks ranked in the CFB Playoff poll, dating back to 2014.
The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 ranked team vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl Game.
This season's Playoff Semifinals will take place Friday, January 1, 2021, at the Rose Bowl Game and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 11, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
| CFB Playoff Era | National Titles | No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | Total Weeks Ranked |
| Clemson |
🏆🏆 |
8 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 30 |
| Alabama |
🏆🏆 |
19 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| Ohio State |
🏆 |
3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| Notre Dame |
|
0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| Oklahoma |
|
0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| LSU | 🏆 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Michigan |
|
0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Florida State |
|
0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Georgia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | |
| Oregon | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| Mississippi State | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| Auburn | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Iowa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| TCU | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Miami | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Ole Miss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Michigan State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Texas A&M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2020
|
Week 1 |
#1 Alabama | #2 Notre Dame | #3 Clemson | #4 Ohio State |
| Week 2 | ||||
| Week 3 | ||||
| Week 4 | ||||
| Week 5 | ||||
| Playoff |
2019
|
Week 1 |
#1 Ohio State |
#2 LSU | #3 Alabama |
#4 Penn State |
| Week 2 | #1 LSU | #2 Ohio State | #3 Clemson | #4 Georgia |
| Week 3 | #1 LSU | #2 Ohio State | #3 Clemson | #4 Georgia |
| Week 4 | #1 Ohio State | #2 LSU | #3 Clemson | #4 Georgia |
| Week 5 | #1 Ohio State | #2 LSU | #3 Clemson | #4 Georgia |
Playoff |
#1 LSU |
#2 Ohio State |
#3 Clemson |
No. 4 Oklahoma |
2018
|
Week 1 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 LSU |
#4 Notre Dame |
| Week 2 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Michigan |
| Week 3 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Michigan |
| Week 4 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Michigan |
| Week 5 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Georgia |
Playoff |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson |
#3 Notre Dame |
#4 Oklahoma |
2017
|
Week 1 |
#1 Georgia |
#2 Alabama | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Clemson |
| Week 2 |
#1 Georgia |
#2 Alabama | #3 Notre Dame |
#4 Clemson |
| Week 3 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Miami |
#4 Oklahoma |
| Week 4 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Miami | #3 Clemson |
#4 Oklahoma |
| Week 5 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Auburn | #3 Oklahoma |
#4 Wisconsin |
Playoff |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Oklahoma |
#3 Georgia |
#4 Alabama |
2016
|
Week 1 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Michigan |
#4 Texas A&M |
| Week 2 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson | #3 Michigan |
#4 Washington |
| Week 3 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Ohio State | #3 Michigan |
#4 Clemson |
| Week 4 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Ohio State | #3 Michigan |
#4 Clemson |
| Week 5 |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Ohio State | #3 Clemson |
#4 Washington |
Playoff |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Clemson |
#3 Ohio State |
#4 Washington |
2015
|
Week 1 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 LSU |
#3 Ohio State |
#4 Alabama |
| Week 2 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Alabama |
#3 Ohio State |
#4 Notre Dame |
| Week 3 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Alabama |
#3 Ohio State |
#4 Notre Dame |
| Week 4 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Alabama |
#3 Oklahoma |
#4 Iowa |
| Week 5 |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Alabama |
#3 Oklahoma |
#4 Iowa |
Playoff |
#1 Clemson |
#2 Alabama |
#3 Michigan State |
#4 Oklahoma |
2014
|
Week 1 |
#1 Mississippi State | #2 Florida State | #3 Auburn |
#4 Ole Miss |
| Week 2 | #1 Mississippi State | #2 Florida State | #3 Auburn |
#4 Oregon |
| Week 3 | #1 Mississippi State | #2 Oregon | #3 Florida State |
#4 TCU |
| Week 4 | #1 Alabama | #2 Oregon | #3 Florida State |
#4 Mississippi State |
| Week 5 | #1 Alabama | #2 Oregon | #3 Florida State |
#4 Mississippi State |
| Week 6 | #1 Alabama | #2 Oregon | #3 TCU |
#4 Florida State |
Playoff |
#1 Alabama |
#2 Oregon |
#3 Florida State |
#4 Ohio State |
If the College Football Playoff started today
#1 Alabama (7-0) vs #4 Ohio State (4-0)
#2 Notre Dame (8-0) vs #3 Clemson (7-1)
Outside looking in:
No. 5 - Texas A&M (5-1)
No. 6 - Florida (6-1)
No. 7 - Cincinnati (8-0)
No. 8 - Northwestern (5-0)
No. 9 - Georgia (5-2)
No. 10 - Miami (7-1)
No. 11 - Oklahoma (6-2)
No. 12 - Indiana (4-1)
No. 13 - Iowa State (6-2)
No. 14 - BYU - (9-0)
No. 15 - Oregon (3-0)
No. 16 - Wisconsin (2-1)
No. 17 - Texas (5-2)
No. 18 - USC (3-0)
No. 19 - North Carolina (6-2)
No. 20 - Coastal Carolina (8-0)
No. 21 - Marshall (7-0)
No. 22 - Auburn (5-2)
No. 23 - Oklahoma State (5-2)
No. 24 - Iowa (3-2)
No. 25 Tulsa (5-1)
