CFP bracket: 12-team field in new College Football Playoff rankings

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The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday, Dec. 2, and despite a fairly ho-hum rivalry week, there was some shakeup to the 12-team field.

The biggest change took place with the Nos. 3-5 seeds following Texas A&M’s loss to Texas on Black Friday. Jumping up to the Aggies’ former No. 3 spot was Georgia with Texas Tech and Oregon rounding out the top five, while Texas A&M fell to No. 7.

What didn’t see a mix-up was the top two seeds in No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, who are expected to play for the top-overall seed in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. ET inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

REQUIRED READING: CFP rankings after Week 14: Bracket, highlights from fifth top 25 reveal

The CFP selection committee, for now, didn’t penalize Ole Miss in the first top 25 rankings since Lane Kiffin left for LSU. The Rebels, who will have offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. for their CFP run despite him being on Kiffin’s LSU staff, moved up a spot to No. 6 as a result of the top seven shakeup.

Another change of note to the CFP bracket was Alabama and Notre Dame swapping spots at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. As the No. 9 seed in the bracket, the Crimson Tide has some breathing room going into the SEC championship game against Georgia.

The official College Football Playoff bracket will be announced in five days on Sunday, Dec. 7 at noon ET. The bracket gets underway with CFP first-round competition on Friday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 20 at the site of the four highest-ranked at-large seeds.

Here’s a look at how the CFP bracket would look if the season ended following the Week 14 rankings reveal on Dec. 2:

CFP bracket after Week 14

Here’s a look at how the 12-team CFP bracket would look after the Dec. 2 release, including first-round matchups and more:

College Football Playoff first round matchups

  • No. 12 Tulane vs. No. 5 Oregon
  • No. 11 Virginia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss
  • No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 7 Texas A&M
  • No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Oklahoma
  • Byes: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech

Note: Virginia and Tulane are penciled in at No. 11 and No. 12 seeds, respectively, assuming they win the ACC and American Conference championship games as the highest rated seeds outside the top-12.

College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchups

  • No. 4 Texas Tech vs. Winner of No. 5 Oregon/No. 12 Texas Tech
  • No. 1 Ohio State vs. Winner of No. 8 Oklahoma/No. 9 Alabama
  • No. 3 Georgia vs. Winner of No. 6 Ole Miss/No. 11 Virginia
  • No. 2 Indiana vs. Winner of No. 7 Texas A&M/No. 10 Notre Dame

CFP rankings after Week 14

Here’s the full CFP top 25 rankings from the Dec. 2 release:

  1. Ohio State (12-0)
  2. Indiana (12-0)
  3. Georgia (11-1)
  4. Texas Tech (11-1)
  5. Oregon (11-1)
  6. Ole Miss (11-1)
  7. Texas A&M (11-1)
  8. Oklahoma (10-2)
  9. Alabama (10-2)
  10. Notre Dame (10-2)
  11. BYU (11-1)
  12. Miami (10-2)
  13. Texas (9-3)
  14. Vanderbilt (10-2)
  15. Utah (10-2)
  16. USC (9-3)
  17. Virginia (10-2)
  18. Arizona (9-3)
  19. Michigan (9-3)
  20. Tulane (10-2)
  21. Houston (9-3)
  22. Georgia Tech (9-3)
  23. Iowa (8-4)
  24. North Texas (11-1)
  25. James Madison (11-1)

CFP schedule 2025-26

Here’s a full breakdown of the 2025-26 College Football Playoff bracket schedule:

CFP first-round (On campus sites)

  • Friday, Dec. 19
    • Game 1: 8 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Dec. 20
    • Game 2: Noon ET
    • Game 3: 3:30 p.m. ET
    • Game 4: 7:30 p.m. ET

CFP quarterfinals

  • Wednesday, Dec. 31
    • Cotton Bowl (Game 5): 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Thursday, Jan. 1
    • Orange Bowl (Game 6): Noon ET
    • Rose Bowl (Game 7): 4 p.m. ET
    • Sugar Bowl (Game 8): 8 p.m. ET

CFP semifinals

  • Thursday, Jan. 8
    • Fiesta Bowl (Game 9): 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Friday, Jan. 9
    • Peach Bowl (Game 10): 7:30 p.m. ET

CFP championship game

  • Monday, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium (Game 11, Miami): 7:30 p.m. ET

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CFP bracket: New 12-team field after College Football Playoff rankings

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