The third College Football Playoff rankings of the 2025 season were released on Tuesday night with Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Georgia and Texas Tech making up the top five.
The Bulldogs and Red Raiders each move up one spot with Alabama falling down to 10th after a 23-21 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. Ole Miss, Oregon, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama round out the top 10.
The Big Ten and SEC continue their dominance by claiming eight of the top-10 spots, but the SEC looks to be in the best position of any league with five teams in the top 10, even with Alabama’s second loss of the season.
Alabama clings to playoff spot as SEC’s outlook only grows stronger
Here is a look at what the 12-team bracket would look like as of Tuesday:
The biggest takeaway from this week’s rankings is the position the SEC finds itself in. Texas A&M, Georgia and Ole Miss appear to be in excellent shape, while Oklahoma and Alabama still find themselves in the projected field. Texas was the biggest loser, falling seven spots to No. 17 after its loss to Georgia.
Even for Alabama, which suffered its second loss on Saturday, it could still find itself in the SEC Championship game depending on how everything plays out over the final two weeks, which could only strengthen its case even more.
Miami remains the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 13, ahead of No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 19 Virginia. With the five highest-ranked conference champions guaranteed to make the 12-team field, Miami would inherit the 11-seed as things currently stand.
Following South Florida’s loss to Navy, Tulane moves up to No. 24 and the 12th-seed as the highest-ranked Group of Five team. No. 11 BYU would be the first team out following the third reveal.
There are two ranked matchups this weekend as No. 8 Oklahoma hosts No. 22 Missouri and No. 15 USC takes on No. 7 Oregon. With only two weeks of regular-season play remaining, time is running out to add quality wins to resumes, something each of these two games will certainly do.
Assuming there are no more hiccups, the SEC has a realistic shot at getting five teams in the field. Week 12 presented an opportunity for other teams to move up, but after Texas A&M completed its remarkable comeback over South Carolina and with Alabama remaining in the top 10, that does not bode well for the rest of the field.
