Boise State rises and BYU falls in the latest CFP rankings

A BYU tumble, a Boise State wrinkle and more Big Ten dominance highlighted the third College Football Playoff rankings reveal Tuesday night, as the prospective 12-team bracket wound up heavy on the concept of SEC teams spending the first round traveling north into prospective cold.

The top five of Oregon (11-0), Ohio State (9-1), Texas (9-1), Penn State (9-1) and Indiana (10-0) remained unchanged. BYU (9-1) rode its first loss (to visiting Kansas) all the way down from No. 6 to No. 14.

Washington State fell out of the rankings after blowing a fourth-quarter lead against New Mexico on Saturday.

The seedings, of course, differ from the rankings in the first season of the expanded new concept that follows 10 years of a four-team playoff. In the playoff as it stands momentarily, BYU would take the No. 12 seed as the Big 12 champion. The Mountain West’s Boise State, with its ranking of No. 12 higher than that of BYU, would gather the No. 4 seed because the four top-ranked conference champions get the top four seeds and their accompanying byes.

On Dec. 20 or Dec. 21, BYU would play at No. 5 seed Ohio State; No. 9 seed Alabama (8-2) would play at No. 8 seed Notre Dame (9-1); No. 11 seed Georgia (8-2) would play at No. 6 seed Penn State (9-1); and No. 10 seed Mississippi (8-2) would play at No. 7 seed Indiana (10-0). In the quarterfinals of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at bowl sites, the BYU-Ohio State winner would play No. 4 seed Boise State (9-1), the Alabama-Notre Dame winner would play No. 1 seed Oregon, the Georgia-Penn State winner would play No. 3 seed Miami, and the Mississippi-Indiana winner would play No. 2 seed Texas.

The 13-member selection committee continued to grapple with the issue of the SEC and its hodgepodge. In the mix of Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, all of which are 1-1 within the trio, the committee sent Alabama from No. 10 to No. 7, Georgia from No. 12 to No. 10, and Tennessee from No. 7 to No. 11 after its 31-17 loss at Georgia on Saturday.

SMU (9-1) landed just outside the top 12 at No. 13 even though its lone loss came at home to BYU, which turned up at No. 14. The biggest leaps within the rankings came from Army (9-0), which jumped from No. 24 to No. 19, and Tulane (9-2), which jumped from No. 25 to No. 20. No. 21 Arizona State (8-2), No. 24 UNLV (8-2) and No. 25 Illinois (7-3) debuted; No. 22 Iowa State (8-2) returned after a one-week absence.

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Projected playoff field

First-round byes

No. 1 seed Oregon (Big Ten champion)

No. 2 seed Texas (SEC champion)

No. 3 seed Miami (ACC champion)

No. 4 seed Boise State (Mountain West champion)

First-round matchups

No. 12 seed BYU at No. 5 seed Ohio State

No. 11 seed Georgia at No. 6 seed Penn State

No. 10 seed Mississippi at No. 7 seed Indiana

No. 9 seed Alabama at No. 8 seed Notre Dame