College Football Playoff Rankings Revealed: Oregon Takes No. 1, Who Climbed Into the Top 12?

Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Miami and Texas were the five top-ranked teams Tuesday night in the first College Football Playoff rankings under a 12-team format, with No. 13 SMU, No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 15 LSU starting started. championship race just outside the border to reach the newly expanded field.

No. No. 12 Boise State (7-1) is the highest-ranked among teams from outside the Power 4 conferences.

After the Ducks (9-0), Buckeyes (7-1), Bulldogs (7-1), Hurricanes (9-0) and Longhorns (7-1), Penn State (7-1) was number 6, Tennessee (7 -1) was No. 7 and Indiana (9-0) was No. 8. Ninth-ranked BYU (8-0) and No. 10 Notre Dame (7-1) rounded out the top 10, while Alabama (6- 2) comes in at number 11.

The Crimson Tide plays at LSU (6-2) on Saturday in what could prove to be an elimination game for the SEC rivals.

The selection committee’s top 12 was nearly identical to the AP Top 25, with the exception of Georgia and Ohio State’s flipped spots in the CFP rankings. The Bulldogs are No. 2 in the AP rankings.

Committee chairman Warde Manuel, director of athletics at Michigan, said the margin between the Buckeyes and Bulldogs was small, but Ohio State’s consistency won out.

“It was an accurate analysis, but ultimately we felt like Ohio State was a more consistent performer at this point and … their only loss is to No. 1 Oregon, and that’s how we came to the decision. he said.

The Big 12’s BYU was the lowest-ranked of the undefeated Power 4 conference teams, one spot behind Indiana and five behind Miami, the highest-ranked ACC team.

Miami has just one win against another team in the committee’s rankings (No. 22 Louisville), while BYU has two (No. 13 SMU and No. 19 Kansas State).

“And so it really came down to an eye test, because it had to do with looking at both teams and the committee the way we ranked them, seeing them that way, and it came out in that order,” Manuel said.

The 13-member selection committee has released the first of five Top 25s that will lead to the only rankings that really matter on December 8, when the first set of 12 teams is revealed. During the first ten seasons of the Playoff, only the committee’s top four teams played for the league title.

The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the field, even if they fall outside the committee’s top 12. The top four seeds, after first-round byes, are reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of their overall ranking. .

Based on these initial rankings, the top four seeds would be Oregon as the projected Big Ten champion, Georgia of the SEC, Miami of the ACC and BYU of the Big 12. The top four seeds will receive byes to the quarterfinals, which will be held in December are played. January 31 and January 1 in the Fiesta, Peach, Sugar and Rose bowls.

In the new format, teams will host five through eight first-round matches against the nine through twelve seeds. These matches are scheduled for December 20-21.

The semifinals for the Cotton and Orange Bowls are Jan. 9-10, and the championship game is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Big 2 conferences separate themselves

As of now, the ACC and Big 12 are single-bid leagues.

The SEC has four teams in the top 12 with Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama, plus three more lurking in LSU, Texas A&M and No. 16 Mississippi.

Several of those teams have yet to play each other, including Georgia at Ole Miss on Saturday. Georgia also plays Tennessee, while Texas and Texas A&M meet in the regular season finale.

Even if some SEC teams upset each other down the stretch, the conference seems well positioned to get four teams into the playoffs.

Likewise, the Big Ten has four teams in the field in the initial rankings with Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana, but no other teams in the top 25. Of the four, however, only Ohio State and Indiana have yet to meet. left on the schedule.

As for the ACC, No. 13 seed SMU (8-1) gives the conference another realistic contender for an at-large bid. Pitt (7-1) at No. 18 seems like a long shot.

The Big 12 has three teams in the 17 to 20 range, with No. 17 Iowa State, No. 19 Kansas State and No. 20 Colorado.

Top spot for Colorado

The Buffaloes (6-2) are very much in the playoff race in Year 2 under coach Deion Sanders, but Colorado’s only path to the bracket is likely via a Big 12 title – which the Buffs are well positioned to win.

With just one conference loss so far, and the only games in which they should be favored, quarterback Sheduer Sanders, Heisman Trophy hopeful Travis Hunter and the Buffs just need a little help to reach the Big 12 title game .

But a non-conference loss to Nebraska and no wins against ranked teams will likely relegate CU to the fringes of the general discussion.

Group of Five represented

Boise State’s No. 12 ranking is notable because it’s high enough to open up the possibility that the Broncos — if they win out and win the Mountain West — could be seeded higher than 12th and perhaps even make a case for a top four position. seed if the Big 12 has a champion with multiple losses.

No. 25 Army (8-0) is the only other Group of Five team ranked. The American Athletic Conference leaders haven’t played a particularly challenging schedule, but the Black Knights have a chance to make a statement with a non-conference matchup against Notre Dame later this month.

No. 21 Washington state is a unique case. The Cougars are still in the Pac-12, but since the conference only has two teams, the champion is not eligible for one of those five automatic bids.

Required reading

(Photo: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)