Tony Barnhart
By Tony Barnhart
When the 2025 college football season started, the pundits
believed that the SEC would field the deepest conference in its
history.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee is one week
away from being absolutely right.
The next-to-last CFP rankings were released Tuesday night with
the SEC in position to claim five spots out of the 12 available.:
Georgia (3), Ole Miss (6) Texas A&M (7), Oklahoma (8) and
Alabama (9) are in the discussion as we enter the final Saturday
of the regular season.
The official pairings and tournament brackets will be revealed on
Sunday at Noon (Eastern Time) , on ESPN.
Georgia and Alabama will play for the SEC championship on
Saturday in Atlanta.
The Big Ten will get three potential slots (Ohio State, Indiana,
Oregon) while the ACC and Big 12 appear to be getting one each.
The most controversial selection Tuesday night was that of Notre
Dame (10-2) and Alabama. Alabama (10-2) moved up a slot to
No. 9 while Notre Dame moved down a spot to No. 10.
Same goes for Miami (10-2) and Notre Dame (10-2). Miami,
which beat Notre Dame, 24-21, in the season opener, is ranked
two spots behind the Fighting Irish at No. 12.
Other SEC teams were still upset at being apparently left out of
the playoffs.
Texas (9-3) stunned No. 3 Texas A&M, 27-17, Friday night and
coach Steve Sarkisian immediately started lobbying for his team.
Texas opened the season at No. 1 Ohio State, losing 14-7.
“If we don’t schedule that game then we’re 10-2 instead of 9-3
and we’re not having this conversation,” said Sarkisian.
Texas was No. 13 in Tuesday’s rankings.
Vanderbilt (10-2) posted the first 10-victory season in school history,
beating Tennessee, 45-24, in Knoxville last Saturday. Vanderbilt’s two
losses this season were to Alabama (30-14) and Texas (34-31).
“We are one of the 12 best teams in college football,” said
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea. “There is no doubt about that.”
We’ll see on Sunday.
PROJECTED CFP RANKINGS
Team…………………………..Next game
1..Ohio State (12-0)…………Saturday vs. Indiana, Big Ten championship
2. Indiana (12-0)………………Saturday vs. Ohio State, Big Ten championship
3. Georgia (11-1) vs. Alabama (10-2)….Saturday SEC championship
4. Texas Tech (11-1)……Saturday vs. BYU, Big 12 championship
5..Oregon (11-1)……….Does not play
6. Ole Miss (11-1)…….Does not play
7. Texas A&M (11-1)……Does not play
8. Oklahoma (10-2)…..Does not play
9. Alabama (10-2)….Saturday vs. Georgia (11-1), SECchampionship
10. Notre Dame (10-2) Does not play
11, BYU (11-1)…Saturday vs. Texas Tech, Big 12 championship
12. Miami (10-2)…Does not play
CFP SCHEDULE
Top four seeds get a bye in the first round
First round: Dec. 19 and Dec. 20
Quarterfinals: Dec. 31 and Jan. 1
Semifinals: Jan. 8 and Jan. 9
Championship: Monday, Jan. 19, 2026
PROJECTED CFP FIELD
Official pairings will be revealed Sunday at Noon on ESPN.
SEC (5): Georgia, Alabama. Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
Big Ten (3): Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon
ACC (1): Virginia
Big 12 (1): Texas Tech
Group of Five: Tulane
#30