Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Miami and Texas were the top five 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 the championship race just outside the cutoff to make the newly expanded field.
No. 12 Boise State (7-1) is the highest-ranked of the 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 No. 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) round out the first ten while Alabama (6-2) comes in at No. 11.
The Crimson Tide play at LSU (6-2) on Saturday, which could turn out to be an elimination game for the SEC rivals.
College Football Playoff Top 25
The selection committee’s top 12 was almost identical to the AP Top 25, other than Georgia and Ohio State flipping spots in the CFP rankings. The Bulldogs are No. 2 in the AP rankings.
Committee chairman Warde Manuel, athletic director at Michigan, said the margin between the Buckeyes and Bulldogs was slim, but Ohio State’s consistency won out.
“It was a close analysis, but in the end, we just felt that Ohio State was a more consistent performer at this point in time and … their only loss is to No. 1 Oregon, and that’s how we came out with the decision,” he said.
BYU of the Big 12 was the lowest-ranked of the unbeaten Power 4 conference teams, one spot behind Indiana and five behind Miami, the highest-ranked ACC team.
Miami has just one victory 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 more of an eye test, as it related to looking at both teams and the committee as we rank them, saw them in that fashion, and it came out in that order,” Manuel said.
The 13-member selection committee released the first of five Top 25s that will lead up to the only rankings that truly matter on Dec. 8, when the first 12-team bracket is revealed. For the first 10 seasons of the Playoff, only the committee’s top-four teams played for the national title.
The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the field even if they fall outside the committee’s top 12. The top four seeds, given first-round byes, are reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champs, no matter their overall ranking.
Using these initial rankings, the top four seeds would be Oregon as the projected Big Ten champ, Georgia from the SEC, Miami from the ACC and BYU from the Big 12. The top four seeds receive byes into the quarterfinals, which will be played Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 in the Fiesta, Peach, Sugar and Rose bowls.
In the new format, teams five through eight host first-round games against the nine through 12 seeds. Those games are scheduled for Dec. 20-21.
The semifinals are set for the Cotton and Orange bowls on Jan. 9-10, and the championship game is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
Big 2 conferences separate themselves
As of right now, the ACC and Big 12 are one-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 still have 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 of the SEC teams knock each other off down the stretch, the conference seems well situated to get four teams in the playoff.
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. However, of the four, only Ohio State and Indiana still have a meeting left on the schedule.
As for the ACC, SMU (8-1) at No. 13 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 bunched in the 17 to 20 range, with No. 17 Iowa State, No. 19 Kansas State and No. 20 Colorado.
Prime position 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 probably via a Big 12 title — which the Buffs are well situated to win.
With only one conference loss so far, and only games they should be favored in ahead, quarterback Sheduer Sanders, Heisman Trophy hopeful Travis Hunter and the Buffs only need a little help to reach the Big 12 title game.
But a nonconference loss to Nebraska and no victories against ranked teams will likely relegate CU to the outskirts of the at-large discussion.
Group of Five represented
Boise State’s No. 12 ranking is notable because it is high enough to open the possibility that the Broncos — if they do win out and win the Mountain West — could be seeded higher than 12th and maybe even make a case to be a top-four 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 leaders of the American Athletic Conference haven’t played a particularly challenging schedule, but the Black Knights have a chance to make a statement later this month with a nonconference game against Notre Dame.
No. 21 Washington State is a unique case. The Cougars are still in the Pac-12, but since the conference only has two teams, its champion is not eligible for one of those five automatic bids.
Required reading
(Photo: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)