Alabama dropped six spots to No. 10 in College Football Playoff rankings after losing to Oklahoma on Saturday. The Crimson Tide are now fifth among SEC schools in the rankings after the Sooners moved up to No. 8 from No. 11. Texas A&M remained at No. 3 behind Ohio State and Indiana and Georgia moved up to No. 4 after beating Texas.
Texas Tech is at No. 5 ahead of Ole Miss and Oregon.
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Alabama is currently the last at-large team in the field with the top-ranked teams from the ACC and American conferences out of the top 10. Miami moved up to No. 13 from No. 15 and is the top ACC team in the post-Week 12 rankings. But the Hurricanes need a lot of help to make the ACC title game.
Both No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 19 Virginia each have one ACC game remaining. If they both win — Georgia Tech plays Pitt on Saturday and Virginia plays Virginia Tech in the final week of the season — they will meet each other for the ACC title. Miami, who lost to SMU, is also a game behind the Mustangs in the ACC standings.
The Hurricanes likely need to get into the field as an at-large. They play at Virginia Tech in Week 13 and at Pitt in Week 14.
Tulane is at the top American Conference team at No. 24. The Green Wave are among four teams with one conference loss atop the American.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket as of Nov. 18. (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
Who looks good to make the field?
We can probably pencil in the top three teams in the rankings even if they lose once in the regular season and in their conference title games.
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Georgia also looks very good with its SEC schedule already over. The Bulldogs could be in danger if they lose to Georgia Tech in their season finale and Alabama also finishes 10-2.
Ole Miss only has a game against Mississippi State remaining. The Rebels could fall out of the top 10 with a loss — just look at what happened to Alabama — but they’ll be heavy favorites on Black Friday.
Oregon hosts No. 15 USC on Saturday and will boost its playoff case with a win. A USC win, however, likely knocks Oregon out of the playoff and could put the Trojans in contention.
Oklahoma has home games remaining against No. 22 Missouri and LSU. The Sooners are favored by more than a TD over the Tigers from Columbia on Saturday. No. 9 Notre Dame has games against ACC bottom-feeders Syracuse and Stanford. The Irish have the most manageable schedule of any two-loss team in contention.
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If Alabama finishes 10-2, the Tide are in the SEC title game. Alabama wins a three-way tie with Georgia and Ole Miss if they’re all tied in second place at 7-1 in the conference. The Tide are also in the conference title game if Texas beats Texas A&M and there’s a four-way tie at the top of the SEC.
Where things could get tricky for the committee is if Alabama makes it to the SEC title game and loses to Texas A&M. How much will the Tide get penalized for the loss? It likely depends on how lopsided it is, but if Alabama loses a close game to an undefeated Texas A&M team, the committee could be tempted to put a three-loss Alabama team in the field after it played a 13th game.
1. Ohio State (10-0)
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2. Indiana (11-0)
3. Texas A&M (10-0)
4. Georgia (9-1)
5. Texas Tech (10-1)
6. Ole Miss (10-1)
7. Oregon (9-1)
8. Oklahoma (8-2)
9. Notre Dame (8-2)
10. Alabama (8-2)
11. BYU (9-1)
12. Utah (8-2)
13. Miami (8-2)
14. Vanderbilt (8-2)
15. USC (8-2)
16. Georgia Tech (9-1)
17. Texas (7-3)
18. Michigan (8-2)
19. Virginia (9-2)
20. Tennessee (7-3)
21. Illinois (7-3)
22. Missouri (7-3)
23. Houston (8-2)
24. Tulane (8-2)
25. Arizona State (7-3)