College Football Playoff ranking: How the initial No. 1 teams finished the season

Tennessee was the new No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff Top 25 when the selection committee released their initial rankings on Tuesday night. That bodes well for the Vols moving forward, based on the brief history of the four-team playoff. 

Six times since 2015 the No. 1 team in the first CFP ranking went on to play for a national championship. Only once did the first No. 1 fail to make the College Football Playoff — Mississippi State finished at No. 7 in 2014, after debuting in the top spot — and only once did the first team ranked No. 1 fail to make it out of the semifinal.

Here’s a look back at where how the first set of rankings looked and how the College Football Playoff ended dating back 2014, the first year of the new playoff system:

2014

Mississippi State was the first No. 1-ranked team in the history of the College Football Playoff Top 25, landing in the top spot after starting the 2014 season with a perfect 7-0 record. The Bulldogs would advance to 9-0 before losing 25-20 at Alabama. State rebounded with a 51-0 drubbing of Vanderbilt, but then lost 31-17 on the road against an Ole Miss team that was ranked fourth in the initial CFP rankings. Mississippi State was ranked No. 7 in the final College Football Playoff ranking. Alabama finished at No. 1 in the CFP Top 25 entering the playoff, after starting at No. 6 with a 7-1 record. The Crimson Tide fell to Ohio State in the semifinal and Oregon beat Florida State, before the Buckeyes won the national championship. Mississippi State ended up in the Orange Bowl, losing 49-34 against Georgia Tech.

2015

Clemson was No. 1 in the first CFP ranking of the season, riding a perfect 8-0 record. The Tigers were still perfect five weeks later, at 13-0, entering the playoff as the No. 1 seed ahead of No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Oklahoma. Clemson beat Oklahoma and Alabama took down Michigan State in the semifinal round before the Crimson Tide won the national title, 45-40 over Clemson.

2016

Alabama was ranked No. 1 in the first CFP ranking, at 8-0, and stayed there entering the playoff with a 13-0 record, after beating Florida 54-16 in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama was the top seed, ahead of Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. The top two seeds advanced for a rematch in the national championship game, this time with Clemson coming out on top 35-31. 

2017

Georgia edged Alabama in the top two spots in the first ranking of the season, both with matching 8-0 records, but would slip to No. 3 entering the College Football Playoff. Georgia beat South Carolina as the CFP No. 1 team in Week 9, but lost 40-17 at Auburn a week later. The Bulldogs would beat Auburn in a rematch in the SEC Championship Game, then beat Oklahoma 54-48 in double-overtime in the Rose Bowl semifinal game. Alabama won the national championship in an overtime thriller, though, 26-23.

2018

Alabama was No. 1 again in the first poll, beating out Clemson as both teams were undefeated at 8-0. It was the same one-two pairing entering the College Football Playoff, too, ahead of No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 4 Oklahoma. Alabama beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and Clemson beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl to set up Alabama-Clemson Part III in the national championship game. This time it was a Clemson landslide, 44-16, to give the Tigers their second CFP national title. 

2019

Five teams were still undefeated when the first CFP ranking was released in 2019, with No. 1 Ohio State (8-0) beating out No. 2 LSU (8-0), No. 3 Alabama (8-0), No. 4 Penn State (8-0) and No. 5 Clemson (9-0). Five weeks later it was LSU on top at 13-0, ahead of No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson, both with matching 13-0 records of their own. No. 4 Oklahoma was the final team in the field with a 12-1 mark. Alabama finished 13th at 10-2. In the playoff it was LSU over Oklahoma in the Peach Bow and Clemson over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. LSU then beat Clemson 42-25 in New Orleans for the national championship.

2020

Alabama came in at No. 1 in the first CFP ranking in 2020, at 7-0, ahead of undefeated Notre Dame. Clemson at 7-1 was No. 3 while Ohio State was No. 4 with a 4-0 record during the COVD-shortened season. A month later Alabama still stood at No. 1, at 11-0, ahead of 10-1 Clemson, 6-0 Ohio State and 10-1 Notre Dame. Alabama beat Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl, and Ohio State beat Clemson in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide ran away from the Buckeyes in the national championship game, 52-24.

2021

Undefeated Georgia was No. 1 to start the CFP ranking a year ago, ahead of 7-1 Alabama and undefeated Michigan State, which came in at No. 3 with an 8-0 record of its own. Oregon was No. 4 at 7-1. Alabama stayed at No. 1, with Michigan climbing from No. 7 in the first ranking to No. 2 five weeks later. Georgia was No. 3 at 12-1 after a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and undefeated Cincinnati got the final spot at 13-0. Alabama handled Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl and Georgia dismantled Michigan in the Orange Bowl. Georgia then got its long-awaited CFP national title over Alabama, 33-18. 

2022

Tennessee was the College Football Playoff No. 1 on Tuesday night, when the first CFP ranking of the season was released. The Vols, thanks to wins at LSU (No. 10) and at home over Alabama (No. 6), edged out No. 2 Ohio State (8-0) and No. 3 Georgia (8-0). Clemson (8-0) was No. 4, ahead of No. 5 Michigan (8-0). Tennessee, which moved into a tie for second in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, plays at Georgia on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: CBS) at Sanford Stadium in Athens.