The picture is getting a little clearer for the first edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Tuesday’s rankings reveal placed Alabama (9-3) at No. 11, ahead of No. 12 Miami (10-2) and No. 13 Ole Miss (9-3), and the Crimson Tide are in position to receive the final spot in the playoff field if conference championship weekend doesn’t provide any surprises.
Unbeaten Oregon remained No. 1 in the rankings, and Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame moved up to Nos. 2-4 following Ohio State’s loss to Michigan and subsequent tumble. Georgia rose one spot to No. 5, and the Buckeyes settled at No. 6.
Tennessee, SMU, Indiana and Boise State rounded out the top 10 in front of Alabama. SMU and Boise State join Oregon and Texas as the projected top-four conference champions who will receive first-round byes in the tournament.
The fifth-highest ranked conference champ is still projected to be the winner of the Big 12 title game between No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State.
There’s a clear scenario where a “bid thief” takes Alabama out of the running for an at-large. Clemson dropped five places to No. 17 when it lost to South Carolina last Saturday, but thanks to Miami’s come-from-ahead loss to Syracuse, Clemson qualified for the ACC championship game against SMU.
Should Clemson beat ACC newcomer SMU on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., the Tigers would vault not only into the playoff field with an auto bid, but potentially all the way into the top four seeds if they’re ranked highly enough.
CFP projected first-round byes: No. 1 seed Oregon, No. 2 seed Texas, No. 3 seed SMU, No. 4 seed Boise State
CFP projected quarterfinal games (campus sites):
No. 9 seed Tennessee at No. 8 seed Ohio State
No. 10 seed Indiana at No. 7 seed Georgia
No. 11 seed Alabama at No. 6 seed Notre Dame
No. 12 seed Arizona State at No. 5 seed Penn State
CFP rankings (different from seeds):
1. Oregon (12-0)
2. Texas (11-1)
3. Penn State (11-1)
4. Notre Dame (11-1)
5. Georgia (10-2)
6. Ohio State (10-2)
7. Tennessee (10-2)
8. SMU (11-1)
9. Indiana (11-1)
10. Boise State (11-1)
11. Alabama (9-3)
12. Miami (10-2)
13. Ole Miss (9-3)
14. South Carolina (9-3)
15. Arizona State (10-2)
16. Iowa State (10-2)
17. Clemson (9-3)
18. BYU (10-2)
19. Missouri (9-3)
20. UNLV (10-2)
21. Illinois (9-3)
22. Syracuse (9-3)
23. Colorado (9-3)
24. Army (10-1)
25. Memphis (10-2)
