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The third College Football Playoff rankings release of the season will take place tonight, following another wild Saturday.
So who will move up? Who will drop? Who will make up the 12-team bracket?
Follow along with our college football experts as we get you ready for tonight's release.
Check out this week’s live coverage schedule on The Athletic
Can the Big 12 get two teams in the College Football Playoff? Maybe BYU and Texas Tech?
It is possible, and we all know there is some wild action to come in the next few weeks. So our Justin Williams takes a look at the Big 12's hopes of getting multiple teams in the Playoff.
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Texas Tech stays atop Big 12 and BYU controls its destiny — but can both make the CFP?
Every week, our Austin Mock projects the College Football Playoff rankings and bracket. Take a look at his projections this week after the Week 12 games.
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College Football Playoff 2025 projections: Oklahoma beating Alabama shakes up SEC picture
Why is Georgia so good? It starts with having the best head coach in college football. And Kirby Smart showed that again on Saturday night against Texas.
Our Seth Emerson breaks down Smart's genius onside kick against Texas and what it means for the Bulldogs.
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Kirby Smart has Georgia peaking again, with help from an onside kick years in the making
Texas A&M rallied from a 30-3 halftime deficit to beat South Carolina and remain undefeated in conference play. The Aggies have a clear path to Atlanta for the SEC title game: Beat Texas, and the Aggies are in.
Georgia is finished with conference play at 7-1, but we could have a three-way tie for second if Alabama beats Auburn in the Iron Bowl and Ole Miss beats Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. And remember, Georgia beat Ole Miss, but Alabama beat Georgia.
If Texas A&M is 8-0, and Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss are tied, Alabama would get the second spot based on conference opponent win percentage (hat tip to Seth Emerson for that bit of info).
Ohio State and Indiana control the action in the Big Ten. But if one of them slips up, we could see Oregon, Michigan or USC sneak into the conference title game. USC and Oregon face off on Saturday in an elimination game.
Texas Tech and BYU are in control here. The Red Raiders have one more game in conference play, while the Cougars have two. If they both win out, we will get a rematch in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Georgia Tech surviving at Boston College and Virginia dominating Duke cleared up the ACC a little bit. It feels like the conference title game race will come down to the four one-loss teams in conference play. And two of them face off this week in Atlanta: Pittsburgh vs. Georgia Tech
The committee had to show its hand again last week after Memphis lost. It pushed USF into the Top 25 as the Group of 6 representative in the playoff field. But it was the only ranked team. We have no idea how the committee feels about North Texas, Navy or ECU. Or James Madison, for that matter. Tonight, it'll have to show a new hand after USF lost.
Great minds, Chris
Will any Group of 6 teams reach the Top 25? We got our first team last week in South Florida, which promptly lost to Navy. Now Navy, North Texas, Tulane and James Madison all have a case to be the top-ranked Group of 5 team at the moment. If multiple teams reach the Top 25, it could give us a clue to how the last guaranteed CFP spot could shake out down the stretch.
Barring disaster against lowly Syracuse or Stanford, Notre Dame will secure an at-large Playoff bid for the second consecutive year after smoking a ranked Pitt team on the road on Saturday, 37-15.
And the Fighting Irish look increasingly dangerous as they barrel toward another Playoff berth. A Notre Dame team that started the season 0-2 (thanks to losses by a combined four points to still-ranked Miami and Texas A&M teams) could be headed for another special postseason, our Pete Sampson writes:
📝 “Notre Dame now feels like a program hitting its stride in November, just in time to make its case that it’s equipped for bigger things in December and January.
“Process begets results, and results become trends. Enough time has passed since those season-opening losses to Miami and Texas A&M to see Notre Dame for the College Football Playoff team that it is. Regardless of what happens with Miami down the stretch. Whatever USC does or doesn’t do in November. No matter how the SEC race shakes out in its final weeks. Notre Dame may not have reached its full potential, but its momentum feels inexorable.”
For tonight, my interest is in how Oklahoma beating Alabama reshuffles the top 10. Most importantly, where do the SEC teams land relative to the non-SEC teams? Conventional wisdom is Notre Dame is safely in, barring an enormous upset down the stretch. That could become even more apparent tonight if the Irish move up even a little from ninth and are ahead of Oklahoma and Alabama.
Also, which teams are in that 9-12 range, which could put them in danger of being bumped in the final rankings by two of the top-five conference champions, most likely from the American and ACC.
Michigan is in full control of its Playoff fate. But as Austin Meek writes, the Wolverines haven’t exactly looked the part. That includes a scare against Northwestern on Saturday, where Michigan needed a last-second field goal to escape with a 24-22 win at Wrigley Field. More from Austin:
📝 “From the outside, Michigan looks like a team that keeps whistling past the graveyard and getting away with it. Teams that commit five turnovers don’t usually deserve to win — Michigan was the first team to win a game this season with a minus-5 turnover margin, in fact — but somehow the Wolverines keep ducking the consequences of their mistakes. Rivals in the Big Ten might say it’s not the first time.
“They’re 8-2 and technically still alive for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, but they’re not on the same tier with Ohio State, Indiana or Oregon. They got blown out by USC, notched respectable wins against Washington and Nebraska and looked shaky against several teams in the bottom quadrant of the Big Ten.”
I want to see which team is No. 10 and the current favorite to earn the last at-large spot in the field. Realistically, the ACC and top Group of 6 champion will take spots 11 and 12 in the final, real rankings, which means the cut-off line is 10th. In both major polls, Alabama had that spot, just behind Notre Dame and ahead of the likes of (in some order) BYU, Georgia Tech, Utah, Vanderbilt and Miami. Does the committee agree?
If Alabama is 11th, then the Tide will need help to move up, given a remaining schedule of Eastern Illinois and Zombie Auburn. Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt have ranked opponents remaining (Georgia and Tennessee), so I can envision them getting boosts if they win out.
Despite being outgained by nearly double (406-212 total yards), Oklahoma forced three turnovers to stun Alabama on the road and keep its spot in the Playoff conversation — a spot no longer held alongside Texas, to the added delight of Sooners fans, thanks to the Longhorns’ blowout loss at Georgia later that night.
Here’s more from David Ubben and Chris Vannini from the biggest upset of an action-packed Saturday in college football and what it means for the Playoff picture.
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Oklahoma vs. Alabama: Sooners hang on for win in Tuscaloosa to bolster CFP resume
I just want to know when the CFP is going to be renamed the SEC-Big Ten Invitational.
Can the SEC really get six teams in the College Football Playoff? Our Stewart Mandel shares his thoughts on that and more in his Week 12 takeaways.
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Oklahoma, Texas and the SEC’s six-team CFP dream, plus more college football Week 12 takeaways
Week 12 in the college football world was … wild. But is it ever not? So what did we learn from Week 12 in regards to the College Football Playoff?
Our Ralph Russo shares his thoughts on what he saw and what lessons we can take from that.
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College Football Playoff Week 12 lessons: Notre Dame closing in, Miami shut out?
If last week's rankings set the bracket, the first-round matchups would be:
The quarterfinal matchups would be:
ATHENS, Ga. — As the clock ticks down to a deadline for a new College Football Playoff format in time for the 2026 season, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Saturday that getting to a 16-team field should be a “priority.”
That’s a slight departure from Sankey’s comments the past few months, when he has mainly emphasized that though the SEC favors going to a 16-team field, it would be happy to stay at the current 12 if a decision can’t be reached by the Dec. 1 deadline. As there’s been seemingly no movement since the summer, staying at 12 for at least the 2016 season has become the most likely option.
It still might be. But asked by The Athletic whether something could happen in the next two weeks, Sankey quoted a 1990s movie.
