CFP rankings revealed
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The second College Football Playoff rankings are here. No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Penn State made up the top four spots as revealed Tuesday night, with BYU and Miami securing byes as projected conference champions.
Before we dig into what to know in the poll, here’s the top 25:
THE NEXT RANKINGS: Here’s the schedule for when the next CFP rankings release
There’s plenty of time and games to play before the final CFP rankings are decided, but if the season ended today, this would be the playoff bracket:
HOW IT WORKS: Here’s everything you need to know for how the 12-team CFP works
1 seed — No. 1 Oregon
2 seed — No. 3 Texas
3 seed — No. 6 BYU
4 seed — No. 9 Miami
Oregon holds steady with the top spot after picking up another win. Texas rises to the No. 2 seed as the top-rated team from the SEC. The Longhorns took Georgia’s spot last week. BYU moved up to No. 3 after Miami fell to the four seed after a loss.
(12 seed) No. 13 Boise State at (5) seed) No. 2 Ohio State
(11 seed) No. 11 Ole Miss at (6 seed) No. 4 Penn State
(10 seed) No. 10 Alabama at (7 seed) No. 5 Indiana
(9 seed) No. 8 Notre Dame at (8 seed) No. 7 Tennessee
This is the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion also being guaranteed a playoff spot.
PERFECT: Here are the remaining undefeated FBS teams
The Big Ten has four of the top-five teams in this week’s CFP rankings — the most top-five teams from one conference in the history of the CFP rankings. Oregon gets the top seed and the bye as the projected champion, but then Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana are all projected to host first-round games as top-five teams. Interestingly, Indiana ranks one spot below Penn State, even though the Hoosiers are undefeated.
No. 11 Ole Miss joins this week’s College Football Playoff rankings as the final at-large team after knocking off Georgia last week. The Rebels moved up five spots to join the rankings, and saw its resume get a boost with South Carolina making its CFP debut this week.
No. 10 Alabama is the second-to-last at-large team to enter the rankings. The Tide are further removed from the playoff bubble than last week after picking up a dominant road win over LSU.
No. 13 Boise State is the fifth highest-ranked projected conference champion, so the Broncos get the 12 seed from the automatic bid.
LOOKING AHEAD: 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule, dates, TV channel, sites
Currently, the SEC and Big Ten lead all conferences with four teams in the projected CFP field. No other conference has more than one team.
No. 12 Georgia and No. 14 SMU are the first teams out of this week’s College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs dropped nine spots in this week’s rankings after losing to Ole Miss — and UGA would currently be out of the 12-team playoff because No. 13 Boise State would get the auto-bid as a conference champion.
SMU is in a similar position as last week as one of the first teams out, but the Mustangs still control their own destiny as the lone undefeated team in ACC conference play.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK’S GAMES: Ole Miss upsets No. 3 Georgia, Georgia Tech stuns No. 4 Miami in Week 11
Elsewhere, a pair of Big 12 teams in No. 16 Kansas State and No. 17 Colorado could make a late-season push. Colorado controls its own destiny in the Big 12 and could win the conference title, but Kansas State ranks above the Buffaloes thanks to a head-to-head win.
Beyond the top 20, No. 21 South Carolina and No. 25 Tulane are the new entrants. The Gamecocks already have three losses and play two more ranked opponents in the final three weeks. Tulane joining the rankings gives the American two teams ranked in the CFP top 25, with undefeated Army at No. 24.
Stan Becton joined NCAA.com in 2021 and has since served as an FCS, track and field, cross country and HBCU beat reporter. He has covered numerous NCAA championship events, including the FCS Championship, DI Track & Field Championships and Men’s Frozen Four. Additionally, he has covered the 2022 College Football Playoff’s Peach Bowl and HBCU sporting events like the Celebration Bowl and Legacy Classic. Stan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, earning a degree in Professional Writing and playing football as a five-year letterman. You can follow him on Twitter @stan_becton.
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