College Football Playoff Rankings: Big Ten dominates top five

Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart, top, celebrates after a touchdown against Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke (10) during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Lydia Ely)

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart, top, celebrates after a touchdown against Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke (10) during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Lydia Ely)

Ohio State is No. 2 again this week in the College Football Playoff Committee rankings.

The Buckeyes (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) were not expected to move up or down after they took care of business against Purdue last week.

Undefeated Oregon is again No. 1 while Texas (8-1) is third followed by Penn State (8-1, 5-1) and Indiana (10-0, 6-0) to give the Big Ten four teams in the top five.

BYU is No. 6 followed by Tennessee, Notre Dame, Miami (Fla.), Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia to round out the top 12.

Boise State is 13th, but the Broncos are projected to be the team that gets an automatic bid as the highest-ranked conference champion from outside the power four leagues.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded Nos. 1-4 and receive a first-round bye while seeds 5-12 will play each other in the first round. The higher-seeded teams will play host in their first round games that will be played the weekend before Christmas.

The quarterfinals are set for New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve while the semifinals will be Jan. 9 and 10.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted by traditional bowls while the National Championship Game is set for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

With Oregon projected to win the Big Ten, Ohio State could not be seeded higher than fifth.

In that case, the Buckeyes would host Boise State in this version of the rankings, and the winner would play No. 4 seed Miami at a neutral site in the quarter finals.

The Hurricanes are projected winners of the ACC despite suffering their first loss last week, and the committee projected BYU to win the Big 12 and Texas to win the SEC.

Much will change over the next month, particularly with several teams having to play each other.

Ohio State is set to play host to Indiana on Nov. 23, and the winner of that game is likely to face Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis on Dec. 7.

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