Kentucky football slotted No. 6 in first playoff bracket

The season's first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed Tuesday, with the Kentucky Wildcats in the No. 6 seed, the highest ranking in program history.

If the 12-team playoff were held this week, Kentucky would host No. 11 Notre Dame in the opening round. The two programs have never met.

In coming weeks, if the Wildcats should ultimately improve to a top 4 slot, they would get a first-round bye.

Tennessee (6-2), this weekend's opponent, is currently ranked No. 13 in the CFP. A third loss would all but eliminate the Volunteers from playoff consideration. But an argument can be made that the Vols are the strongest 6-2 team in the country, having lost those games by a total of 6 points. They've also won 19 of their last 20 games at Neyland Stadium.

The 'Cats under Will Stein have surged to a 7-1 record, and sit atop the SEC with a 5-1 conference mark. The CFP committee also noted Kentucky's impressive road wins and a No. 2 overall strength of record.

If the playoffs were today, the bracket would look like this:

No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Alabama
No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 6 Kentucky
No. 10. Ole Miss at No. 7 Texas
No. 9 BYU at No. 8 UCLA

Miami, Georgia, Utah and Indiana, the top four slotted teams, get the first round bye.

This is the first of six rankings that will be revealed -- one every Tuesday until the brackets are set on Dec. 6. The playoffs start with four games on the campus of seeds 5-8 on Dec. 18-19. The final is Jan. 25 in Las Vegas.


(AP file photo)