College Football Playoff rankings show: Live updates, predictions, how to watch
Boise State moves ahead of BYU, SEC teams get shuffled in latest CFP rankings
USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken breaks down the third edition of the College Football Playoff rankings.
Sports Pulse
The College Football Playoff is so close you can almost smell the overreactions wafting from the football kitchen. Tuesday is another aperitif to get us going until the final bracket selection is drawn.
ESPN will again air the CFP rankings in a live show, broadcasting live at 8 p.m. ET. That is when everything we knew a week ago gets tossed in the trash can, and we get to argue anew over the latest projections.
With Alabama falling to Oklahoma and Ole Miss getting punched in the gut by Florida, there are sure to be some new faces in this week’s version of the bracket projections.
Keep it here for all of the latest and how to watch the latest CFP release.
How to watch CFP Rankings release show: Time, TV, streaming
- Date: Tuesday, Nov. 26
- Time: 8 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: Fubo
Watch the CFP Rankings Show on ESPN with a Fubo subscription
The College Football Playoff rankings are released each week through a CFP rankings show broadcasted by ESPN every Tuesday, from Nov. 5 through Dec. 3. This week’s show is slated to air starting at 8 p.m. ET and ending at 9 p.m. ET.
This season, there are 12 teams in the College Football Playoff for the first time. College football previously introduced the CFP in 2014 with a four-team format. The expansion to 12 teams is set in place for the 2024 and 2025 college football seasons. Leaders within the sport have not agreed to the framework of the playoff beyond that at this point.
The 12 participating teams in the College Football Playoff bracket will be the five conference champions ranked highest by the CFP selection committee, and the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded where it was ranked among the top 12 teams, or at No. 12 if it is outside the top 12 in the CFP rankings. Non-conference champions ranked in the top four will be seeded beginning at No. 5.
“Because of this,” the CFP warns on its website, “the seeding, 1 through 12, could look different than the final rankings.”
For the first round, the higher-ranked team in each pairing (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs. 9) will serve as host on campus. The winners advance to the quarterfinals and match up with the corresponding top-four conference champion based on seeding. Quarterfinal games will played at the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The semifinals – played at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl Classic – will take place Jan. 9-10.
The two semifinal winners will play for the national championship Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. – Mark Giannotto
Erick Smith, USA TODAY
- Oregon (Big Ten champion)*
- Georgia (SEC champion)*
- Miami (ACC champion)*
- Arizona State (Big 12 champion)*
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Boise State (Group of Five champion)**
*Receives first-round bye, automatic bid; **Receives automatic bid
Bracket – first round games
- No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Boise State
- No. 6 Texas vs. No. 11 SMU
- No. 7 Penn State vs. No. 10 Tennessee
- No. 8 Notre Dame vs. No. 9 Indiana
The Athletic
- Oregon (Big Ten champion)*
- Georgia (SEC champion)*
- Miami (ACC champion)*
- Boise State (Group of Five champion)*
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Iowa State (Big 12 champion)**
*Receives first-round bye, automatic bid; **Receives automatic bid
Bracket – first round games
- No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Iowa State
- No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 SMU
- No. 7 Texas vs. No. 10 Tennessee
- No. 8 Notre Dame vs. No. 9 Indiana
*Receives first-round bye, automatic bid; **Receives automatic bid
Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Miami
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Indiana
- Boise State
- Arizona State
Heather Dinish, ESPN
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Miami
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Boise State
- Indiana
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- South Carolina
- Texas A&M
- Clemson
- Arizona State
- BYU
- Tulane
- Colorado
- Iowa State
- UNLV
- Missouri
- Illinois
- Army
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