CFP Rankings 2026: Wake Forest ranks 16th in First Playoff Rankings

· Yahoo Sports

The College Football Playoff logo is painted in the endzone prior to the Cotton Bowl between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Miami Hurricanes at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Dec. 31, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co

The first College Football Rankings of the season have been revealed, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons are currently ranked 16th.

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The Deacs find themselves in the CFB Rankings for the first time since being ranked #21 back in 2022. While it’s great to be ranked, 16th feels kind of low for a team that is 7-1 (that 1 loss being to #1 Miami) and has the 11th best Strength of Record by ESPN’s metrics. It seems like the committee penalized Wake for not having any wins over other ranked teams—last season, a “record strength” metric was added to the committee that “rewards teams defeating high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty for losing to such a team.” Still, one can’t help but wonder if a bigger brand would be ranked higher given the same resume.

With SMU nor Duke currently ranked, it is going to be nearly impossible for the Deacs to move up very much in the rankings in the regular season. That means that Wake is going to have to win out and beat Miami in the ACC Championship Game to find their way into the College Football Playoff this season. Those hopes will rest largely upon the injury status of starting QB Gio Lopez. Head Coach Jake Dickert didn’t give a ton of information on the injury on Monday, simply saying that “when he’s ready to play, he’ll play.”

FanDuel currently has the odds of Wake Forest winning the ACC Championship Game at +410 and the odds of making the playoff at +115.

Go Deacs!

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