The college football regular season is complete.. The College Football Playoff field will be announced Sunday, Dec. 7. And yet after 15 weeks of play, there is still some mystery about which 12 teams will be part of the bracket.
The No. 1 spot is clear, however, after Indiana took down Ohio State in the Big Ten title game to earn the top seed in the field. Georgia looks set for the No. 2 spot after its dominant SEC title victory against Alabama. Look for the Buckeyes to drop to No. 3 ahead of Texas Tech, which captured its first Big 12 championship.
The order of the next four teams which will have first-round home games should mirror last week’s rankings with Oregon leading, Mississippi, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. After that, things get interesting.
There are two at-large spaces for three teams – Notre Dame, Alabama and Miami. Many interpreted the move of the Crimson Tide to No. 9 ahead of the Fighting Irish in last week’s rankings as a sign that the Hurricanes were in position to move into the field from No. 12 if BYU lost. But there was another possibility. The change gives the committee the flexibility to bump Alabama back a place after a loss and give separation between Notre Dame and Miami. And that’s the expectation of how this will shake out. The committee has consistently valued the Fighting Irish in a higher position and nothing from Saturday will change that.
Yes, Hurricanes fans will cry foul because of the head-to-head win against the Fighting Irish. But this isn’t just a debate between those two teams. It’s between three teams and the criteria to split those teams goes deeper than just that one data point.
There’s also some drama about whether ACC champion Duke makes the field or the fifth conference champion spot goes to James Madison. But too many losses by the Blue Devils -especially two against Group of Five teams – make it likely the ACC is shut out of the field.
The rest of the postseason lineup is starting to come into focus with some teams accepting bids. Those schools are in bold below. All those spots will be confirmed Sunday after the playoff field is announced.
Notes: Not all conferences will fulfill their bowl allotment. An asterisk represents a replacement pick. Legacy Pac-12 schools in other conferences will fulfill existing Pac-12 bowl agreements through the 2025 season.