Top 5 of CFP unchanged; Ducks leapfrog Ole Miss

Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Georgia and Texas Tech remained the top five teams in the latest College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, while Oregon jumped ahead of Ole Miss after its win over USC.

The Ducks are now No. 6, with Ole Miss at No. 7 — the only change to the top 10 from a week ago. Oklahoma remains at No. 8, followed by Notre Dame at No. 9, Alabama at No. 10 and BYU at No. 11.

“We’ve been waiting for them to have that signature win to really put them where they need to be,” CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek said of Oregon.

Miami moved ahead of Utah to No. 12, while the Utes dropped to No. 13 following a come-from-behind 51-47 win over 5-6 Kansas State. Despite the head-to-head win over the Irish, the Hurricanes remain three spots behind in the latest rankings as they push for an at-large spot. Vanderbilt stayed at No. 14 while Michigan moved up three spots to No. 15.

Yurachek said Miami and Notre Dame were close enough in the rankings this week to be compared head-to-head, and in the same pool as Alabama and one-loss BYU.

Still, the committee feels Notre Dame “is a complete team,” according to Yurachek, and “deserves to be ranked where they are.”

Texas is No. 16, USC is No. 17, Virginia is No. 18, Tennessee is No. 19 and Arizona State is No. 20.

SMU enters the rankings at No. 21, followed by Pitt, Georgia Tech, Tulane and Arizona.

With Rivalry Week set to begin, there could be major ramifications to the rankings. All eyes will be on the Egg Bowl first, when Ole Miss plays Mississippi State on Friday with a possible CFP berth on the line for the Rebels. Coach Lane Kiffin is expected to announce a decision about his future the following day.

If he opts to leave Ole Miss, making him unavailable to coach the team in the CFP, the selection committee could take his departure into account when ranking the Rebels.

According to CFP protocol, the committee can consider the loss of key players or coaches when ranking teams. In 2023, the committee left Florida State out of the four-team playoff in part because starting quarterback Jordan Travis was out for the season.

“It is in the protocol, but I’m not sure we will have a data point to use that as part of the protocol,” Yurachek said during the ESPN broadcast, referring to the potential departure of Kiffin.

When asked to elaborate by ESPN’s Rece Davis, Yurachek said the committee “will not have seen [Ole Miss] play without a coach,” in reference to Kiffin.

There are other big rivalry games with possible CFP ramifications: No. 3 Texas A&M travels to No. 16 Texas on Friday night. A win for the Aggies clinches a spot in the SEC championship game. Alabama is at Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday, with an SEC championship game appearance at stake.

No. 15 Michigan hosts No. 1 Ohio State as the Wolverines push for a possible spot in the Big Ten title game or as an at-large team. Ohio State has lost four straight to its rival, but a win Saturday would put the Buckeyes into the Big Ten title game.

Meanwhile in the ACC, No. 18 Virginia hosts rival Virginia Tech. A win for the Cavaliers puts them in the ACC championship game.

The five highest-ranked conference champions will make the 12-team field, but there is a tweak to the format this year, as the committee is using a straight seeding model. The top four teams in the final ranking, regardless of conference championship, will receive a first-round bye.

If the playoffs were held today, these would be the first-round matchups: Tulane at Texas Tech, Miami at Oregon, Alabama at Ole Miss and Notre Dame at Oklahoma. Though Miami is slotted in as the highest-ranked ACC team, the Hurricanes have long odds to win the conference title (9%, according to ESPN FPI).

SMU is the current ESPN FPI favorite to win the ACC, at 55%. A win over Cal on Saturday puts the Mustangs into the ACC title game for the second straight season.

There are multiple scenarios for Miami to make the ACC title game, and they all involve a win at No. 22 Pitt plus a combination of losses among the other ACC teams that are currently 6-1 in conference play.

The SEC continues to lead the way with eight ranked teams, while the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 each have five. Tulane remains the lone Group of 5 representative at No. 24.

The final CFP rankings will be announced Dec. 7, the day after the conference championships. The four first-round games will be played at the home campuses of the higher-seeded teams on Dec. 19 and 20. The four quarterfinal games will be played at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl (Dec. 31), the Capital One Orange Bowl (Jan. 1), the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (Jan. 1) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1).

The two semifinal games will take place at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Jan. 8 and 9, respectively.

The CFP National Championship game is Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.