The Big Ten Conference once again tightened its grip at the top of the College Football Playoff rankings.
No. 1 Oregon remained at the top of the rankings released on Tuesday night, with Ohio State (No. 2), Penn State (No. 4), and Indiana (No. 5) remaining near the top of the playoff committees latest poll. The Southeastern Conference added three top-five programs in No. 3 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, and No. 10 Alabama.
The SEC led all conferences with four projected playoff teams in the revamped twelve-team playoff format, along with nine programs listed in the top 25. The Big Ten remained top heavy with the only four programs listed in the rankings being the Ducks, Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, and Hoosiers.
The top four seeds receive first-round byes in the new playoff format, granting the top-voted major conference winners with the top spots in the bracket. Under this week’s rankings, Oregon would receive the top seed followed by Texas, the Big 12’s BYU, and Miami of the ACC. The Cougars were ranked No. 6 while the Hurricanes dropped to No. 9 after their loss to Georgia Tech.
Despite being ranked No. 2, Ohio State would earn a first-round home playoff game against the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion, unless that champion should find itself ranked 11th or better. No. 13 Boise State earned that nod in this week’s poll, and would be featured as the No. 12 seed heading to Columbus if the season ended with this week’s rankings.
Other first round matchups would include No. 9 Notre Dame traveling to Tennessee, No. 11 Ole Miss visiting Penn State, and No. 10 Alabama making a trip to Bloomington for a battle with Indiana. No. 12 Georgia and No. 14 SMU were considered the “first two out” in this week’s polls.
The SEC included other teams outside the current 12-team format with No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 21 South Carolina, No. 22 LSU, and No. 23 Missouri. The Big 12 also had rising programs No. 16 Kansas State and No. 17 Colorado continue to inch closer to the playoff discussion. The ACC had a total of four teams with Miami, SMU, No. 19 Louisville, and No. 20 Clemson.
Army (9-0) remains the lone unbeaten program outside of the major conferences and rose one spot to No. 24 in this week’s rankings. Washington State rose to No. 18, while Tulane entered at No. 25.
The four first-round games will be played at the higher-seeded teams’ home campuses Dec. 20-21. The four quarterfinal contests will be played in the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls Dec. 31-Jan. 1.
The two semifinal games will take place in the Orange and Cotton bowls on Jan. 9-10. The championship game is slated for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
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