5 Texas A&M need a great end to their seasons if they hope to take a CFP spot away from Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame or Alabama.

1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, followed by Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State, while BYU debuts at No.

Nick Saban's Crimson Tide are among four SEC teams appearing in the top nine of the initial rankings, along with No.

(Auburn, at No. 22, gives the conference five teams in the overall rankings.) Georgia is the highest-rated two-loss team, despite double-digit defeats to Alabama and Florida, and Clemson, which lost its only game to Notre Dame in two overtimes while playing without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, is the highest-rated one-loss team.

"You're evaluating teams that have played three games against teams that have played eight or nine games.

13 Iowa State -- Cincinnati received a more favorable initial ranking, at No.

BYU's original 2020 schedule featured games against six Power 5 opponents -- Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota, Missouri and Stanford -- all of which were canceled when the Pac-12, Big Ten and SEC went to league-only schedules because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an FBS independent, BYU revised its schedule and has victories over Boise State, Houston, Navy and Troy, winning all but one of its games by 17 or more points and outscoring its opponents 428-125 for the season.

Barta indicated that the committee is "very impressed by BYU" but acknowledged that the Cougars' "schedule compared to the teams around them came into play.".

Sitake said BYU had an opportunity to play Washington this week, but "it just didn't work out for whatever reason." Washington will instead play Utah on Saturday.

Ohio State (4-0) is the Big Ten's highest-ranked team, followed by No.

The Big Ten tied the SEC for most teams in the initial rankings, with five.

The ACC placed three teams in the top 10 of the rankings, as Miami (7-1) debuts at No.

Oklahoma and Iowa State are the highest-ranked teams from the Big 12, which also places Texas (No. 17) and Oklahoma State (No. 23) in the top 25.

The Pac-12, the final FBS conference to kick off its 2020 season, has only two teams in the rankings: No.

"With three games, they haven't yet beaten or played a ranked team, and so right now, we had three games to evaluate.