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CFP bracket: 12-team field in new College Football Playoff rankings

2025-11-26 01:05
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CFP bracket: 12-team field in new College Football Playoff rankings

Here's a look at how the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket would look if the season ended after today's CFP top 25 rankings.

CFP bracket: 12-team field in new College Football Playoff rankingsStory byJohn Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORKWed, November 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM UTC·3 min read

The fourth of six College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday, Nov. 25, and to no surprise, the top 12 didn't see much of a change.

For the fourth consecutive week, Ohio State was tabbed as the No. 1 seed, as the Buckeyes head into "The Game" against Michigan with an undefeated 11-0 record. Indiana, Texas A&M and Georgia all stayed put as well at the No. 2 through No. 4 seeds, respectively.

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The biggest change from the selection committee from last week's reveal to this week's top 25 reveal was Oregon moving up a spot ahead of Ole Miss to the No. 6 seed following its win over USC in Week 13. Tulane was once again penciled in at the No. 12 seed as the highest-ranked team among the Group of Five conferences.

REQUIRED READING: College Football Playoff rankings, bracket after Week 13

CFP first-round competition takes place across Friday, Dec. 19, and Saturday, Dec. 20 at the site of the four-highest ranked at-large seeds, i.e., those ranked No. 5 through No. 8. Thanks to its fifth top-25 ranked win of the season last week vs. Missouri, Oklahoma looks well-positioned to host a first-round home game in Norman despite not going into Week 14 of the season with a path to the conference championship game.

Of course, the Nov. 25 reveal of the CFP top 25 rankings doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things for the 12-team field, as the ranking that does matter is the one announced on Sunday, Dec. 7.

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Here's a look at how the CFP bracket would look if the season ended following the Week 13 rankings reveal on Nov. 25:

CFP bracket

Here's a look at how the 12-team CFP bracket would look after the Nov. 25 release, including first-round matchups and more:

The latest College Football Playoff rankings provided more clarity for how the bracket may shake out ahead of a huge set of showdowns in Week 14.The latest College Football Playoff rankings provided more clarity for how the bracket may shake out ahead of a huge set of showdowns in Week 14.

College Football Playoff first round matchups

  • No. 12 Tulane vs. No. 5 Texas Tech

  • No. 11 Miami vs. No. 6 Oregon

  • No. 10 Alabama vs. No. 7 Ole Miss

  • No. 9 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Oklahoma

  • Byes: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 4 Georgia

College Football playoff quarterfinal matchups

  • No. 4 Georgia vs. Winner of No. 5 Texas Tech/No. 12 Tulane

  • No. 1 Ohio State vs. Winner of No. 8 Oklahoma/No. 9 Notre Dame

  • No. 3 Texas A&M vs. Winner of No. 6 Oregon/No. 11 Miami

  • No. 2 Indiana vs. Winner of No. 7 Ole Miss/No. 10 Alabama

CFP rankings after Week 13

Here's the full CFP top 25 rankings from the Nov. 25 release:

  1. Ohio State (11-0)

  2. Indiana (11-0)

  3. Texas A&M (11-0)

  4. Georgia (10-1)

  5. Texas Tech (10-1)

  6. Oregon (10-1)

  7. Ole Miss (10-1)

  8. Oklahoma (9-2)

  9. Notre Dame (9-2)

  10. Alabama (9-2)

  11. BYU (10-1)

  12. Miami (9-2)

  13. Utah (9-2)

  14. Vanderbilt (9-2)

  15. Michigan (9-2)

  16. Texas (8-3)

  17. USC (8-3)

  18. Virginia (9-3)

  19. Tennessee (8-3)

  20. Arizona State (8-3)

  21. SMU (8-3)

  22. Pitt (8-3)

  23. Georgia Tech (9-2)

  24. Tulane (9-2)

  25. Arizona (8-3)

CFP schedule 2025-26

Here's a full breakdown of the 2025-26 College Football Playoff bracket schedule:

CFP First-Round

On campus sites

  • Friday, Dec. 19

    • Game 1: 8 p.m. ET

  • Saturday, Dec. 20

    • Game 2: Noon ET

    • Game 3: 3:30 p.m. ET

    • Game 4: 7:30 p.m. ET

CFP Quarterfinals

  • Wednesday, Dec. 31

    • Cotton Bowl (Game 5): 7:30 p.m. ET

  • Thursday, Jan. 1

    • Orange Bowl (Game 6): Noon ET

    • Rose Bowl (Game 7): 4 p.m. ET

    • Sugar Bowl (Game 8): 8 p.m. ET

CFP Semifinals

  • Thursday, Jan. 8

    • Fiesta Bowl (Game 9): 7:30 p.m. ET

  • Friday, Jan. 9

    • Peach Bowl (Game 10): 7:30 p.m. ET

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CFP Championship

  • Monday, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium (Miami): 7:30 p.m. ET

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CFP bracket: New 12-team field after College Football Playoff rankings

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