What beating BYU did for Texas Tech football in the second CFP ranking
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The Texas Tech football team’s Nov. 8 win over Brigham Young yielded a significant ratings bump for the Red Raiders in the second edition of this year’s College Football Playoff rankings.
Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 in the Big 12) moved to No. 6, up two spots from last week.
The teams ranked above the Red Raiders are Ohio State at No. 1, Indiana at No. 2, Texas A&M at No. 3, Alabama at No. 4 and Georgia at No. 5. The top five are unchanged from last week. Behind the Red Raiders in the top 10 are Ole Miss at No. 7, Oregon at No. 8, Notre Dame at No. 9 and Texas at No. 10.
Tech beat BYU 29-7 on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium in a matchup that brought the ESPN College GameDay show to Lubbock for the first time in 17 years. Last week, BYU was one spot ahead of Tech in both major polls, as well as the CFP rankings. With the loss Saturday, the Cougars dropped five spots to No. 12.
The other team Texas Tech passed in last week’s rankings was Ole Miss. The Rebels beat The Citadel 49-0 last week in a non-conference game.
The CFP rankings come out weekly with the final ranking released on Sunday, Dec. 7, after conference championship games are complete. The top four in the final ranking receive first-round byes in the 12-team bracket. Teams ranked 5 through 8 will host CFP first-round games Dec. 19 and 20 against teams ranked 9 through 12.
If the rankings finished the same as they are this week, which won’t happen, Texas Tech would host Miami (Fla.) in a first-round game and play Texas A&M in the quarterfinals on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
The CFP rankings originated in 2014, and last week was the first time Texas Tech had appeared in the ranking.
The 2025 season is the first time the Red Raiders have won more than eight games in a season since a three-year stretch when they finished 9-4 in 2007, 11-2 in 2008 and 9-4 in 2009.
Teams the committee ranked 11 through 15 are Oklahoma, BYU, Utah, Vanderbilt and Miami (Fla.). Ranked 16 through 20 are Georgia Tech, Southern California, Michigan, Virginia and Louisville. Rounding out the 25 are Iowa, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, South Florida and Cincinnati.
2025 College Football Playoff Schedule
FIRST ROUND: Friday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 20 at higher-seeded school.
QUARTERFINALS: Wednesday, Dec. 31: Cotton Bowl (Arlington), 6:30 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 1: Orange Bowl (Miami), 11 a.m.; Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California), 3 p.m.; Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), 7 p.m.
SEMIFINALS: Thursday, Jan. 8: Fiesta Bowl (Phoenix), 6:30 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 9: Peach Bowl (Atlanta), 6:30 p.m.
FINALS: Monday, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), 6:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What beating BYU did for Texas Tech football in the second CFP ranking
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