Week 10 College Football Playoff Rankings: How To Watch, TV Schedule, Live Stream
The first top 25 will be released for the path to the playoff and New Year’s Six games.
How many Mountain West teams will be ranked?
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The first College Football Playoff rankings will be released after nine weeks of games and while there is a lot of anticipation for these it should be noted that there is still a lot of football to be played and a ton of results that will impact these first rankings compared to the ones at the end of the year.
When: Tuesday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Stream: SlingTV (Get a free seven-day trial)
These initial rankings will look a lot different once the final ones are released, but the big question is not if a Mountain West team will be ranked by where Utah State or Fresno State will be placed in the poll.
The playoff poll sort of mirrors the AP and coaches poll but since there is an emphasis on strength of schedule and who teams have beat, that will knock down the Mountain West and other Group of Five teams. There will be four from that collation ranked with UCF and Houston getting the nod along with the Bulldogs and Aggies.
Getting the highest spot among these teams gives a huge leg up the rest of the way to earning that coveted New Year’s Six berth from the G5 ranks.
Do not panic if the Mountain West is not ranked the highest, because they won’t. What to look for is the separation among the highest rated team from this group and it for sure will be Central Florida.
One other thing to consider is to not count out Boise State from being a darkhorse once the season ends. They get to play Fresno State and Utah State in the regular season, so that gives them a pair of ranked teams, and maybe a third if the West Division winner gets into the polls and that is overly plausible.
One pro tip about these first rankings: Do not overreact because there is a lot of football to be played, and just look back at this past weekend where the AP top 25 saw nearly half of its team lose.
