The College Football Playoff rankings, however, don’t start dropping until Tuesday nights toward the end of the season.

During the college football season, rankings come out along pretty set weekly schedules. The big rankings you’re probably looking for — the AP Poll and the College Football Playoff committee’s top 25 — are no exception. We’ll post all the big ones right here as soon as they’re available.

The AP Poll top 25 comes out on Sundays around noon ET, though sometimes slightly earlier or an hour or two later.

The main weird week every year: after the prolonged Week 1, when the poll comes out on Tuesday.

The preseason poll usually drops in mid-August. The AP and Coaches polls also have final top 25s shortly after the title game in January.

The Playoff rankings start coming out later in the year on Tuesday nights.

2017’s schedule of ESPN release shows, though the actual top 25 usually drops about 15 minutes in:

• Tuesday, Oct. 31, 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 14, 9 p.m. (approximate, due to a basketball game)
• Tuesday, Nov. 21, 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m.

The only rankings that actually matter for real (the ones that set the Playoff and the New Year’s Six bowls) arrive via an ESPN show starting Sunday, Dec. 3 at noon.

There is no final Playoff top 25 after the postseason, because the committee’s only job is setting up the postseason.

The Coaches Poll top 25 comes out on Sundays, usually a little bit before the AP Poll, but nobody cares about it much any more.

The AP is the recognized standard, until the Playoff rankings arrive. The Coaches Poll used to play a role in the BCS, but the BCS is deceased.

There are other rankings as well.

SB Nation’s college football advanced stat, by our own Bill Connelly, will usually arrive by Monday afternoon each week.

The Massey Composite is a great way to keep track of advanced-stats ratings and minor polls. The Composite slaps dozens of rankings together into one.