The final week of the college football regular season saw chaos strike in the Lone Star State, as No. 16 Texas took down No. 3 Texas A&M to hand the Aggies their first loss of the season. After the 27-17 win, coach Steve Sarkisian lobbied for his Longhorns to be included in the College Football Playoff. Let the debate rage on.
The coveted top four spots of the CFP rankings, which guarantee a first-round bye, also got much more interesting as we head to the fast-approaching conference championship weekend. Here’s how to watch the reveal of the penultimate rankings — and don’t worry, there’s no basketball game airing ahead of the announcement this week.
How to watch the CFP Top 25 rankings show
In last week’s show, the top four spots went to Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M and Georgia. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers handled business and are set to face each other in this Saturday’s Big Ten championship, in what should be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown.
After that, the situation gets cloudier.
Will Georgia, coming off a one-score win over No. 23 Georgia Tech, move up to the No. 3 slot? Does No. 5 Texas Tech jump into the top four after its dominant 49-0 victory over West Virginia? How about No. 6 Oregon or No. 7 Ole Miss, which both defeated their respective rivals?
Last week, the SEC had the most teams ranked in the top 12 with five, and it’s likely to stay that way despite Texas A&M’s loss. No. 14 Vanderbilt could creep up two spots after its upset win at No. 19 Tennessee, but it might be hard to justify bumping down No. 12 Miami after its 38-7 blowout win at No. 22 Pittsburgh. No matter what happens, there will be some unhappy fan bases come Tuesday night.
Here is the committee behind this week’s rankings. Members are arranged alphabetically by last name:
- Chris Ault – former Nevada head coach and athletic director
- Troy Dannen – current athletic director at Nebraska
- Mark Dantonio – former head coach at Cincinnati and Michigan State
- Mark Harlan – current athletic director at Utah
- Jeff Long – former athletic director at Kansas, Arkansas, Pittsburgh and Eastern Kentucky
- Ivan Maisel – longtime sportswriter and Hall of Fame member of the Football Writers Association of America
- Chris Massaro – current athletic director at Middle Tennessee State
- Mike Riley – former head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska
- David Sayler – current athletic director at Miami (Ohio)
- Wesley Walls – former Ole Miss tight end enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame
- Carla Williams – current athletic director at Virginia
- Hunter Yurachek – current athletic director at Arkansas
This weekend’s slate of conference championship games will play a large role in determining the final rankings, which will be revealed Sunday:
- Sun Belt: Troy at James Madison – Friday, 7 p.m.
- Mountain West: UNLV at Boise State – Friday, 8 p.m.
- American: North Texas at Tulane – Friday, 8 p.m.
- Big 12: BYU vs. Texas Tech – Saturday, 12 p.m.
- SEC: Georgia vs. Alabama – Saturday, 4 p.m.
- ACC: Duke vs. Virginia – Saturday, 8 p.m.
- Big Ten: Indiana vs. Ohio State – Saturday, 8 p.m.
In the second season of the expanded 12-team format, the Playoff bracket automatically puts in the five highest-ranked conference champions, which are typically expected to hail from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and one Group of Five conference. Then, the next seven highest-ranked teams clinch an at-large CFP spot.
Something to keep an eye on ahead of next Sunday’s final CFP rankings reveal show: A Duke win in the ACC championship could disrupt the final 12. The Blue Devils (7-5) are not currently ranked in the CFP Top 25 and could potentially be left out of the Playoff based on the current CFP format. Instead, two Group of 5 conference champions could make it in over an ACC champion, should they be ranked in the committee’s Top 25.
Buckle up, it’ll be a wild week of college football.
The remaining schedule for ESPN’s “College Football Playoff Top 25” programming is listed below:
- Tuesday, Dec. 2 – 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 7 (final rankings) – Noon
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