First College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday: Odds favor Clemson to be No. 4 behind Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame

At 7 p.m. ET, the first College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for this most unusual season will be released by the selection committee. There will be four more releases after Tuesday with the selection day coming Sunday, Dec. 20. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and Sugar Bowl in New Orleans are scheduled to host the CFP semifinals this year, and Miami hosts the national title game on Jan. 11. It is widely accepted that the top three teams Tuesday will be Alabama (the +175 national title favorite at William Hill Sportsbook), Ohio State and Notre Dame probably in that order. Via SportsLine oddsmakers, Clemson is the betting favorite to be fourth.

The Tide are No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll (unanimous in the AP), with Notre Dame second in both and Ohio State third. Those three are unbeaten, while Clemson's only loss was a 47-40 double-overtime thriller at Notre Dame on Nov. 7 when the Tigers were without superstar quarterback Trevor Lawrence due to COVID-19. The committee members definitely will take Lawrence's absence into consideration.

The ACC could be set up nicely to have two teams in the playoff for the first time if both Clemson and Notre Dame win out – both will be favored to do so – and then meet in the conference championship game. If the Tigers were to win that close with Lawrence back, the committee probably takes both Clemson and the Irish. Notre Dame does have a very tough game this Friday at No. 25 North Carolina, which is a 4.5-point underdog on the William Hill college football odds.

It's certainly not out of the question that the SEC gets two teams in the playoff, though. It will be interesting to see where one-loss Florida and Texas A&M are both sitting in the first rankings. The Aggies' only loss was to Alabama, while the Gators appear on a collision course with the Tide in the SEC Championship Game. Florida's lone loss was by 3 at Texas A&M.

Could a Group of 5 school reach the playoff for the first time? Unbeaten Cincinnati is No. 7 in the AP and Coaches Poll, while unbeaten BYU is eighth in both. Strength of schedule is going to hurt both, however. The Cougars haven't played a team that's currently ranked (they did beat Boise State when the Broncos were No. 21) and neither have the Bearcats (they did beat Army and SMU when both were ranked earlier) – although UC has a Dec. 12 game at No. 24 Tulsa.

There has been some scuttlebutt that perhaps BYU and Cincinnati could schedule a game against one another on Dec. 5 when both have bye weeks.

Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Who will be the No. 4 team in the first CFP Top 25 Tuesday?

• Clemson -150
• Texas A&M +600
• Florida +750
• Cincinnati +1300
• BYU +2000

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