The College Football Playoff selection committee is just weeks away from releasing its final rankings and the first field of the 12-team era. As the football edition of Selection Sunday nears on Dec. 8, coaches, athletic directors and league administrators are in full lobbying mode.
As of this week, No. 3 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Georgia would all make the 12-team field. Tennessee is ranked No. 11, but would be on the outside looking in; No. 14 BYU would jump into the field as the fifth-highest ranked conference champion. The Big Ten would land the same number of programs in the field as the SEC based on the current rankings, with Big 12, ACC, Mountain West each sending conference champions as automatic bids and independent program Notre Dame landing at at-large. Three more SEC programs—No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 18 South Carolina and No. 23 Missouri—are also in the committee's latest rankings, although they're on the outside looking in.
