Buckeyes top seed in first official CFP ranking … To nobody’s great surprise, defending national champion and current top-ranked college team Ohio State is the #1 team on the initial CFP playoff rankings released last evening. The other top seeds, if the playoffs started this week, are Indiana at #2, Texas A&M at #3 and Alabama at #4, while Georgia, Mississippi, BYU, Texas Tech, Oregon, Notre Dame, Virginia and Memphis round out the top 12. Memphis is in as the highest ranked non-Power 4 team, although the Tigers aren’t in the top 25. Note that this year, conference champions do not get the byes; instead the top 4 spots will go to the four highest ranked teams in the final poll. And needless to say there will be some changes between now and then; this week for example, #7 BYU is scheduled to play #8 Texas Tech meaning that the loser of that game is almost assuredly going to be dropped from the top 12. The playoffs get underway with the first round games on December 19-20 at the home stadium of teams seeded 5th thru 8th; the quarter-finals will be played New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the Orange, Rose, Sugar and Cotton Bowls; the semis will be held January 8-9 in the Peach and Fiesta Bowls; while the national championship game will be played January 19th in Miami.
