Oregon would receive a coveted top-four seed and Texas A&M would play a first-round home game in the biggest changes to the College Football Playoff mock bracket based on the latest Associated Press Top 25.
Texas A&M slipped from No. 3 to No. 7 in Sunday's AP poll, allowing Oregon to move up one spot to No. 4. That would give the Big Ten three of the top four seeds, with Ohio State No. 1 and Indiana No. 2. Georgia of the SEC would be No. 3. Top-four seeds earn byes to the quarterfinals.
Now that the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game matchup is set, Virginia would bump Miami out of the bracket as the league’s highest-ranked team in the AP poll (Virginia will play unranked Duke in the title game). Miami had held that spot in last week's bracket while still alive for the conference title game.
The Southeastern Conference has five of the 12 teams on the bracket. The Big Ten has three teams and the Big 12, ACC and Sun Belt one each. Notre Dame would be in as an independent. The CFP committee will release its fourth rankings of the season Tuesday night.
Based on the AP Top 25, the CFP would open like this:
— No. 9 seed Notre Dame at No. 8 seed Oklahoma. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.
— No. 12 seed James Madison at No. 5 Texas Tech. Winner vs. No. 4 Oregon.
— No. 10 seed Alabama at No. 7 Texas A&M. Winner vs. No. 2 Indiana.
— No. 11 seed Virginia at No. 6 Mississippi. Winner vs. No. 3 Georgia.
The first three teams outside the bracket: BYU, Miami and Vanderbilt.
BYU is ranked No. 11 by the AP but would get bumped by Virginia of the ACC. Miami is No. 12 in the AP poll but would be bumped to make room for Group of Five representative James Madison of the Sun Belt.
The five highest-ranked conference champions automatically qualify for the CFP, but no longer do the four highest-ranked champions receive a first-round bye. The 12-team bracket is now seeded directly based on the CFP’s final rankings on Dec. 7.
The top four seeds will be assigned to quarterfinals in ranking order and in consideration of current bowl relationships. This year, quarterfinal winners advance to the semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl. The No. 1 seed would receive preferential placement based on geography.
Teams ranked Nos. 5-12 by the CFP will play in the first round, with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded school. First-round games are Dec. 19 and 20, quarterfinals Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, semifinals Jan. 8 and 9 and the championship game is Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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