CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLERIGHTNOW) – UVA football, off to its best start in 35 years, is the ACC’s top-ranked team in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday night. The Cavaliers (8-1) checked in at No. 14.

CFP selection committee chairperson Mack Rhoades praised Virginia for winning close games, singling out the victory at Louisville as something the committee considered heavily.

“That’s a great overtime win, when you talk about going on the road and beating a quality — a really well-coached Louisville team,”
Rhoades said. “Virginia is a really good football team. Coach (Tony Elliott) has done a great job. Again, they’ve got more games to play.”

Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M and Georgia took the top five spots in the rankings, which will determine the 12-team playoff. For the ACC, Louisville checked in at No. 15, Georgia Tech was No. 17 and Miami was No. 18. Surprising Pittsburgh also made the rankings at No. 24.

“I think you can say this about the ACC — not, at least at this point, a lot of non-conference signature wins,” Rhoades said. “We looked at Georgia Tech at North Carolina State, and it just felt like North Carolina State dominated Georgia Tech on both sides of the ball. A bad night for Georgia Tech. But again, a lot of ball still to be played.

“Miami probably early on, I think like everybody else in the country, held them in high, high regard. Certainly, the win against Notre Dame. But with recent loss that Friday night game to a Louisville team that came into Miami, and then watched obviously the game at SMU, I think offensively right now, Miami is struggling a bit. The committee felt strongly in terms of where we ranked Miami.”

Only the ACC champion is guaranteed a spot in the playoff. Virginia – ranked No. 12 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll – can earn a spot in the conference title game by winning its three remaining games – Saturday night against Wake Forest, at Duke and then back home against rival Virginia Tech.

“I told the team the only time I’m going to address it was on Monday and the first ranking doesn’t mean anything,” Elliott said during his Coach’s Corner radio program on WINA. “It’s the ranking on Dec. 7 that comes out, that’s the only ranking that matters.”

Virginia expects a large fan turnout Saturday night against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers are 5-0 at home this season.

“The objective is to go 1-0 each week, and we’ll process all of that at the end of the season,” Elliott said after the Cavaliers’ 31-21 win at Cal on Saturday. “We’ve gotta defend Scott Stadium.  That’s been a big point of emphasis to find a way to make sure that at home we come away with W’s.”

UVA will host conference opponent Wake Forest on Saturday at 7p.m., with coverage on WINA beginning at 5p.m.  If the Hoos win out, they will land in the ACC Championship, however a loss within the next three weeks could derail that objective due to the log jam at the top of the standings with multiple one loss teams.