College Football Playoff rankings: Boise State moves ahead of BYU and into a first-round bye

Boise State jumped ahead of BYU in the third College Football Playoff rankings of 2024.

The Broncos moved up to No. 12 and the Cougars fell eight spots to No. 14 after losing to Kansas on Saturday night. Since Boise State is in front of BYU, the Broncos are the provisional No. 4 seed in the playoff with two weeks to go in the regular season.

Remember, the top four conference champions receive first-round byes into the playoff while seeds Nos. 5 through 12 play in first-round games. Five conference champions are guaranteed spots into the playoff. BYU is the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the latest top 25 and five spots ahead of Army, the top AAC team in the rankings.

BYU has a very good opportunity to vault back over the Broncos in Week 13. The Cougars visit No. 18 Arizona State in one of two massive Big 12 games in the penultimate weekend. If BYU wins convincingly, it’s very easy to see the committee moving them ahead of Boise State. After all, the committee moved BYU up three spots a week ago after a field goal with three seconds left gave the Cougars a 22-21 win at Utah.

Outside of the swap between BYU and Boise State, the only significant move in the top 12 came at Tennessee’s expense. Georgia moved back into the projected bracket after a 31-17 win over the Vols in Week 12. Tennessee is at No. 11 in the rankings and the first team currently out of the College Football Playoff.

There will be two more sets of rankings revealed before the official and final rankings on Sunday, Dec. 8.

First-round byes

1. Oregon

2. Texas

3. Miami

4. Boise State

As Boise State moves ahead of BYU in the rankings, Miami moved up from the No. 4 seed to the No. 3 seed. The Hurricanes were passed by an 8-2 Alabama team in the top 25, however.

First-round matchups

No. 12 BYU at No. 5 Ohio State

No. 11 Georgia at No. 6 Penn State

No. 10 Ole Miss at No. 7 Indiana

No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Notre Dame

Once again, the Big Ten is slated to host three first-round games. Right now, anyway. That will likely change next week after Indiana’s visit to Ohio State on Saturday. Oregon has clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game and the winner of Saturday’s top-five matchup will have a significant edge in the race to join the Ducks in Indianapolis.

Alabama leads the SEC contingent of at-large teams as it has a win over Georgia. Ole Miss, which beat Georgia in Week 11, is a spot ahead of the Bulldogs. Tennessee is outside the field despite having a win over Alabama. If there’s a six-team tie atop the SEC at 6-2, the committee’s rankings behind the team that wins the SEC title game will be fascinating.

Top 25

1. Oregon (11-0)

2. Ohio State (9-1)

3. Texas (9-1)

4. Penn State (9-1)

5. Indiana (10-0)

6. Notre Dame (9-1)

7. Alabama (8-2)

8. Miami (9-1)

9. Ole Miss (8-2)

10. Georgia (8-2)

11. Tennessee (8-2)

12. Boise State (9-1)

13. SMU (9-1)

14. BYU (9-1)

15. Texas A&M (8-2)

16. Colorado (8-2)

17. Clemson (8-2)

18. South Carolina (7-3)

19. Army (9-0)

20. Tulane (9-2)

21. Arizona State (8-2)

22. Iowa State (8-2)

23. Missouri (7-3)

24. UNLV (8-2)

25. Illinois (7-3)