Indiana ranked 2nd, Notre Dame 10th in first College Football Playoff rankings of 2025 season

INDIANAPOLIS — The College Football Playoff selection committee released its first rankings of the 2025 season on Tuesday night.

The Indiana football team is ranked 2nd, and Notre Dame clocked in at 10th. The committee’s top 10 largely mirrored from this week’s poll published by The Associated Press. IU and Notre Dame were 2nd and 10th, respectively, in the AP poll.

Indiana’s resume features road wins over No. 20 Iowa and 9th-ranked Oregon. The Hoosiers also beat Illinois, 63-10, when the Fighting Illini were ranked No. 9 in the AP poll earlier this season.

Indiana is the second season of a renaissance of sorts under coach Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers went 11-2 in Cignetti’s first season last year and made the College Football Playoff. Indiana is off to a 9-0 start this season. Prior to Cignetti’s arrival in Bloomington, the Hoosiers had only had three winning seasons since 1995.

If the season ended today, Indiana would meet Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Buckeyes clocked in at No. 1 in this week’s CFP rankings and are currently 8-0 on the season.

The Fighting Irish’s record does not boast the same number of quality wins as Indiana’s. Notre Dame’s only win against a team inside in this week’s CFP rankings came on Oct. 18, when the Fighting Irish beat the No. 19 USC Trojans, 34-24.

Notre Dame is 6-2 on the season with losses to Texas A&M and 18th-ranked Miami.

In this year’s iteration of the CFP, 12 teams will still make the bracket, just like last year. This season, however, the four highest-ranked teams, regardless of conference championship status, will receive the bracket’s top four seeds and first-round byes. Last season, teams had to have a conference championship on their resume to receive a top-four seed and the corresponding first-round bye.

Based on this week’s rankings, Indiana would get a first-round bye if the season ended today. Notre Dame would not have a first-round bye if Tuesday’s rankings were final.

The CFP committee will release rankings every Tuesday until it selects this year’s playoff field on Dec. 7.

Notre Dame will play Navy this Saturday in South Bend at 7:30 p.m. Indiana is slated to play Penn State in Pennsylvania Saturday at noon. The Hoosiers’ game will air on FOX59.