BYU, Texas Tech make the cut for Big 12 in 1st College Football Playoff rankings

With roughly two-thirds of the college football regular season in the books, the first College Football Playoff rankings, which included two Big 12 teams in the bracket, dropped on Tuesday.

BYU and Texas Tech, the frontrunners to play in the conference championship game, were slotted in the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively. Should both teams make it, it would be the first time the Big 12 has had multiple participants in the same playoff.

No. 13 Utah was the only other Big 12 team in the top 25.

The rest of the 12-team bracket consisted of four SEC teams, three Big Ten teams, one ACC team, Notre Dame and the group-of-five representative, Memphis.

The important caveat for the initial CFP rankings is it will always miss a few of the eventual participants, such as when last year’s initial rankings didn’t include Arizona State, SMU or Clemson inside the top 12.

ASU still has a shot at this year’s playoff, but it would take winning the conference to get there.

2025 College Football Playoff format

The format for the 2025 CFP will largely stay the same as 2024, with the top four seeds getting first-round byes while teams seeded fifth-eighth host teams seeded ninth-12th at their home stadiums.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and final will then be at neutral sites in bowl games.

The only major difference? Conference champions won’t automatically get the top four seeds and the byes that come with them.

Instead, the bracket will be seeded straight-up with the conference champion from outside Power Four almost certainly slotted in for No. 12 at the end.

2025 College Football Playoff bracket based on initial rankings

First-round byes: (1) Ohio State, (2) Indiana, (3) Texas A&M, (4) Alabama

First-round matchups:

• (9) Oregon at (8) Texas Tech to play Ohio State
• (10) Notre Dame at (7) BYU to play Indiana
• (11) Virginia at (6) Ole Miss to play Texas A&M
• (12) Memphis at (5) Georgia to play Alabama

Full initial College Football Playoff rankings

1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Indiana (9-0)
3. Texas A&M (8-0)
4. Alabama (7-1)
5. Georgia (7-1)
6. Ole Miss (8-1)
7. BYU (8-0)
8. Texas Tech (8-1)
9. Oregon (7-1)
10. Notre Dame (6-2)
11. Texas (7-2)
12. Oklahoma (7-2)
13. Utah (7-2)
14. Virginia (8-1)
15. Louisville (7-1)
16. Vanderbilt (7-2)
17. Georgia Tech (8-1)
18. Miami (6-2)
19. USC (6-2)
20. Iowa (6-2)
21. Michigan (7-2)
22. Missouri (6-2)
23. Washington (6-2)
24. Pitt (7-2)
25. Tennessee (6-3)

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