Oregon leads, SEC mystery solved

On By Littum

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As expected, the spots at the top of the College Football Playoff rankings did not change in this week’s release of the selection on Tuesday.

No. 1 Oregon maintained its position and was followed by Ohio State for the third week in a row. Texas held on to the No. 3 with Penn State and Indiana next, giving the Big Ten four of the top five teams for second place.

Where there was mystery was in the second half of the top 10 after no. 6 Brigham Young and no. 7 Tennessee both lost in Week 12. Notre Dame moved up to sixth, while Alabama leapfrogged Miami and moved into No. 7 place in front of the Hurricanes. Mississippi and Georgia round out the top 10 with the Volunteers falling to no. 11.

BYU fell eight spots to No. 14, behind Mountain West leader Boise State. The Broncos check-in at no. 12 and is higher than all the other Big 12 schools, meaning they could be in line for a first-place bye given to the four highest-rated conference champions. The other Big 12 schools in the rankings are no. 16 in Colorado, no. 21 in Arizona State and no. 22 at Iowa State.

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In addition to Boise State, No. 19 Army and no. 20 Tulane from the American Athletic group of five schools represented in the rankings. The highest rated group of five champion is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

The SEC remains the top conference among ranked teams. The league features eight schools, with LSU dropping out after one loss. The Big Ten is second with five teams, and the Big 12 has four. The ACC is the second power conference with more teams of three. Mountain West has two schools with the addition of no. 24 UNLV this week.

This is the third release of the College Football Playoff committee. There will be two more revelations in the next two Tuesdays. The final rankings will be revealed on December 8, which will set the playoffs with 12 teams selected for the field.

What is the schedule for the College Football Playoff?

First-round games will take place Dec. 20 and 21 at campus sites hosted by the higher seeds. Seed no. 5 will play seed no. 12, no. 6 meetings no. 11, no. 7 matches with no. 10 and no. 8 meetings no. 9.

The winners of these matches advance to the quarter-finals. The Fiesta Bowl is played on December 31. The Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl are played on January 1st.

The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will host the semifinals on January 9 and 10, respectively.

The championship game will be played on January 20 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The schedule based on this week’s rankings would look like this:

First round game (with seeding)

No. 12 Brigham Young at Ohio State no. 5

no. 11 Georgia at no. 6 at Penn State

no. 10 Mississippi at No. 7 Indiana

No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Notre Dame

Quarterfinals

Fiesta Bowl: 4. Boise State vs. Ohio State-Brigham Young wins

Peach Bowl: Winner no. 3 Miami vs. Penn State-Georgia

Sugar bowl: Winner no. 2 Texas vs. Indiana-Mississippi

Rose bowl: Winner no. 1 Oregon vs. Notre Dame-Alabama

College Football Playoff Rankings Top 25

1. Oregon (11-0)

2. Ohio State (9-1)

3. Texas (9-1)

4. Penn State (9-1)

5. Indiana (10-0)

6. Notre Dame (9-1)

7. Alabama (8-2)

8. Miami (Fla.) (9-1)

9. Mississippi (8-2)

10. Georgia (8-2)

11. Tennessee (8-2)

12. Boise State (9-1)

13. SMU (9-1)

14. Brigham Young (9-1)

15. Texas A&M (8-2)

16. Colorado (8-2)

17. Clemson (8-2)

18. South Carolina (7-3)

19. Army (9-0)

20. Tulane (9-2)

21. Arizona State (8-2)

22. Iowa State (8-2)

23. Missouri (7-3)

24. UNLV (8-2)

25. Illinois (7-3)