The College Football Playoff selection committee announced its inaugural top-25 rankings Tuesday, with UCLA coming in at No. 22.
UCLA was one of five Pac-12 teams – including No. 5 Oregon, No. 12 Arizona, No. 14 Arizona State and No. 17 Utah – named to the list.
The 13-person committee is tasked with selecting the top-four teams that will play in the first-ever College Football playoff. The group will release its top-25 rankings every Tuesday and announce the four semifinalist teams on Dec. 7 at 9:45 a.m. on ESPN.
The committee is composed of athletic directors such as Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez and USC’s Pat Haden, former college football coaches Tyrone Willingham and Tom Osborne as well as other luminaries such as Condoleezza Rice.
The initial top four teams are No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Ole Miss.
The Southeastern Conference has the most teams in the top 25 with six, followed by the Pac-12 and Big 12 with five apiece.
When voting, the committee is instructed to place emphasis on conference champions, a team’s strength of schedule, outcome against common opponents and head-to-head competition when comparing teams with similar records.
The seven-round ballot voting process takes place every Monday and Tuesday. Each committee member will first create a list of the 25 teams that they believe to be the best in the country, ranked in no particular order. Teams that appear on three or more ballots will then be up for consideration in the next round of voting.
Committee members will then list the teams they believe to be the best six in the country, also in no particular order, which will comprise the first pool of teams.
The members will then rank those six teams, with the three that earn the fewest points – the highest average placement – forming the top-three teams. The three not ranked will be placed in a pool of the next-best six teams according to the committee members, and voting will occur again.
This process will repeat until the top 25 is formed.
The two semifinal games will be played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and the national championship will be decided on Jan. 12.
Compiled by Jordan Lee, Bruin Sports senior staff.