Oregon, Ohio St., Texas, Penn St. remains at the top of the CFP rankings

The top four remained the same for the third straight week in the fourth installment of the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, but a chaotic Saturday brought many more changes to the playoffs.

no. 1 Oregon, no. 2 Ohio State, no. 3 Texas and no. 4 Penn State remains atop the selection committee rankings entering the final week of the regular season. Indiana (10-1) fell five spots to No. 10 after the 38-15 loss at Ohio State, but is still in position to earn a CFP bid with a win over Purdue (1-10).

“We saw Indiana, they played well at times against Ohio State,” Warde Manuel, chairman of the CFP committee, said on ESPN’s rankings release show Tuesday night.

“We were impressed with some of the things Indiana did. And they dropped five, but we still felt their work was strong enough to stay in the top 10.”

Notre Dame replaced the Hoosiers at No. 5 after their 49-14 run by undefeated Army, which fell out of the committee’s top 25 this week. Miami (No. 6), Georgia (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 8) and SMU (No. 9) join Indiana in rounding out the top 10.

THE UPDATED CFP TOP 25 HAS DROPPED pic.twitter.com/p4pom73Np0

— ESPN (@espn) 27 November 2024

Using the current CFP rankings, Oregon (Big Ten), Texas (SEC), Miami (ACC) and No. 11 Boise State (Mountain West) would be the four highest-rated conference champions and would earn first-round byes in the 12th-team bracket. No. 16 Arizona State (Big 12) would earn a playoff bid as the fifth-highest rated conference champion, but would be the No. 12 seed and would play a first round game.

The seedings for the first round matchups would look like this: no. 12 Arizona State at no. 5 Ohio State; no. 11 Indiana at no. 6 Penn State; no. 10 SMU at no. 7 Notre Dame; and no. 9 Tennessee at no. 8 Georgia.

When asked Saturday if the Hoosiers still belong in the 12-team field based on their body of work, Indiana coach Curt Cigetti replied: “Is that a serious question? I’m not even going to answer that. The answer is so obvious.” The first year coach then smiled and nodded yes with a wink.

No. 12 Clemson would be the first team out of the playoff, with the Tigers ranked ahead of three-loss SEC bubble teams Alabama (No. 13), Ole Miss (No. 14) and South Carolina (No. 15). But the ACC landing three teams in the top 12 this week could be an encouraging sign that the conference has an opportunity to earn two bids in the final bracket.

A trio of road upsets Saturday rocked the SEC’s playoff picture. Alabama slipped six spots after a stunning 24-3 loss at Oklahoma. Ole Miss dropped five spots after falling 24-17 at Florida. And Texas A&M dropped five spots after losing 43-41 at Auburn in four overtimes. Georgia and Tennessee benefited by moving up three spots each this week.

Arizona State climbed five spots to No. 16, thanks to its 28-23 win over BYU, while Iowa State moved up four spots to No. 18 after a 31-28 victory in Utah. But the committee continues to rank no. 11 in Boise State ahead of the Big 12 front-runners, raising the possibility that the Big 12’s eventual champion could miss out on earning a top-4 seed and a first-round bye.

The Big 12 currently has a four-way tie atop its standings with the Sun Devils, Cyclones, BYU (No. 19) and Colorado (No. 25) all hoping to play their way into next week’s conference championship game in Arlington, Texas.

Tulane remains in contention for a fifth conference championship if Boise State loses again or the Big 12 finishes with a three-loss champion. The Green Wave climbed to no. 17 this week and has won eight in a row since losing to Power 4 foes Kansas State and Oklahoma in non-conference play. They will face Memphis on Thursday before playing Army in the AAC championship game on Dec. 5.

“It’s a balance,” Manuel said. “We have to look at what teams do during the season. And obviously, as we watch film and watch what teams do against the opponents they’re going to face, we see a Tulane team that really plays great football right now. … They’re really one of the teams that has risen in our minds as it relates to how they’re playing at this point.”

No. 20 Texas A&M hosts the no. 3 in Texas on Saturday night, renewing their rivalry for the first time since 2011, with the winner advancing to the SEC Championship in Atlanta. Missouri (No. 21), UNLV (No. 22), Illinois (No. 23), Kansas State (No. 24) and Colorado round out the top 25.

Eight SEC teams are ranked in the top 25 again this week, along with five Big Ten teams, five Big 12 teams, three ACC teams, two Mountain West teams and one AAC team.

The four first round games will be played on the home campus of the higher seeded teams on December 20th and 21st. The four quarterfinal games will be held at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Rose Bowl presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl on December 31st and January 1st.

The two semifinal games will take place at the Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on January 9 and 10.

The CFP National Championship presented by AT&T is scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.