Boise State moved up one spot to No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night and into position to receive a first-round bye, and Georgia re-entered the field of 12.
The Bulldogs jumped to No. 10 after defeating Tennessee on Saturday, knocking the Volunteers back to No. 11 and making them the first team out of the bracket.
The third CFP rankings — only two more to go before the ones that matter on Dec. 8 — featured an unchanged top-five, dominated by four Big Ten teams: No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana.
The third College Football Playoff bracket of the 2024 season is here.
📈 Boise State jumps up
📉 Tennessee left out of the fieldThoughts?
Read more: https://t.co/74CqS5Fxqd pic.twitter.com/gco9oApfsP
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 20, 2024
The Buckeyes (9-1) host the unbeaten Hoosiers on Saturday in their third top-five matchup this season. Ohio State split road games against Oregon (11-0) and Penn State (9-1) earlier this year.
Notre Dame moved up to No. 6, followed by Alabama, Miami and Ole Miss at No. 9. The Hurricanes are the highest-ranked ACC team, in position to receive a bye if they can win the conference.
Losses by BYU and Tennessee cleared the way for changes after that.
The Cougars’ first loss of the season, at home against Kansas, dropped them eight spots to No. 14 behind No. 13 SMU from the ACC. The Cougars beat the Mustangs in September in Dallas.
BYU is still the highest-ranked Big 12 team and projected into the field as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions, but not high enough to receive one of the four first-round byes.
That goes to Boise State, projected as the Mountain West champion.
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