College Football Playoff rankings: Alabama returns to the bracket, Ohio State falls in fourth top 25

The fourth College Football Playoff rankings are here. The top team remained the same, but the projected playoff field changed, starting in the top five. No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Penn State and No. 4 Notre Dame made up the top four spots as revealed Tuesday night. But No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Texas, No. 8 SMU and No. 10 Boise State earned the four byes as the four highest-ranked conference champions.

Before we dig into what to know in the poll, here's the top 25:

College Football Playoff rankings: Top 25 for Conference Championship week

THE NEXT RANKINGS: Here's the schedule for when the next CFP rankings release

Here's what the 12-team field would look like

Only a handful of games remain before the final CFP field is decided, but if the season ended today, this would be the tournament bracket:

HOW IT WORKS: Here's everything you need to know for how the 12-team CFP works

Top four seeds

1 seed — No. 1 Oregon
2 seed — No. 2 Texas
3 seed — No. 8 SMU
4 seed — No. 10 Boise State

Oregon and Texas stay put as the top two seeds after both teams won last week. However, SMU replaces Miami as the highest-ranked ACC team, earning the No. 3 seed after the Hurricanes lost. Boise State holds steady as the fourth seed, projected over the highest-ranked Big 12 team, Arizona State.

First round games

(12 seed) No. 15 Arizona State at (5 seed) No. 3 Penn State
(11 seed) No. 11 Alabama at (6 seed) No. 4 Notre Dame
(10 seed) No. 9 Indiana at (7 seed) No. 5 Georgia
(9 seed) No. 7 Tennessee at (8 seed) No. 6 Ohio State

This is the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion also being guaranteed a playoff spot.

Home teams

Even after Ohio State lost to Michigan, it'll likely still get a home game in the playoff after being ranked No. 6 this week. The Buckeyes are ahead of No. 7 Tennessee and neither team will play in a conference championship game this weekend. Similarly, Notre Dame is likely locked in as a home team in the first round at No. 4 with its season concluded.

However, all hope is not lost for the Volunteers hoping to host a CFP game in Rocky Top. Two conference championship games feature top-five teams. If a Penn State or Georgia team loses, there's potential that Tennessee could move up the seed line.

The last teams in

No. 9 Indiana and No. 11 Alabama are the last two teams with at-large spots in the bracket. Both team's regular seasons have concluded. So they won't fall below any other teams that aren't playing on conference championship week. 

Yet, Alabama still isn't locked into the playoffs. If Clemson wins the ACC title, securing an auto-bid, a two-loss SMU team that is currently ranked ahead of the Tide would likely remain in discussion for the final playoff spot. The same goes for Boise State if it were to lose the Mountain West title to UNLV. UNLV would secure one of the auto-bids and a two-loss Broncos squad would also be in discussion for a final playoff spot.

Other conference championship games like Texas-Georgia in the SEC could change the number of teams in as well, especially since Alabama would hold a head-to-head win over Georgia if the Bulldogs lost to become a three-loss team.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP: No. 1 Oregon survives Wisconsin, No. 12 UGA beats No. 7 Tennessee

Next teams out

No. 12 Miami is the first team out of the bracket. The Hurricanes lost to Syracuse last week and rank one spot behind Alabama — even with one less loss. Miami's lost two of its last three games, hurting itself in the eyes of the CFP committee.  Moreover, Miami lacks a ranked win while Alabama has three. 

"Alabama is 3-1 against current top-25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2."

CFP Selection Committee Chair Warde Manuel on why Alabama is ranked above Miami in the latest CFP rankings.

— ESPN (@espn)

Beyond Miami, Ole Miss is at No. 13 and South Carolina is at No. 14. Neither SEC team will be able to move past the Hurricanes this week without a game.

LOOKING AHEAD: 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule, dates, TV channel, sites

Teams by conference

Currently, the SEC and Big Ten lead all conferences with four teams in the projected CFP field. No other conference has more than one team.

Beyond the bubble

Beyond the bubble, three conference championship games could serve as elimination games — the ACC title, the Big 12 title and the Mountain West title. The winners of each game project to be in the playoffs while the loser could be out.

No. 15 Arizona State vs. No. 16 Iowa State looks like a true elimination game. No. 8 SMU vs. No. 17 Clemson puts the Tigers in a win-and-in scenario. No. 10 Boise State vs. No. 20 UNLV puts the Rebels in a win-and-in scenario. SMU or Boise State still could potentially make the playoffs with losses, but it would be far from a guarantee.