College Football Playoff rankings could end up screwing over No. 1 Oregon

On Tuesday, the newest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released, and there was very little change at the top.

Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Penn State remained the top four programs but as laid out in the committee's rules, the playoff bracket does not translate directly to just the top 12 teams being included in the field.

In the projected bracket entering Week 14, Oregon as the one-seed would get a first-round bye with the other three highest-ranked conference champions. However, Oregon's potential opponent in the quarterfinal would be a lot tougher than a traditional No. 1 seed would get.

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Oregon's CFP outlook might improve if it loses the Big Ten Championship

If the projected bracket remains the same two weeks from now, then the No. 1 Ducks would be playing the winner of the eight-seed Georgia and the nine-seed Tennessee.

That would be a very tough battle to fight after a week off even if it is on neutral turf. In comparison, five-seed Ohio State would play the 12-seed, currently projected to be the Big 12 champion (Arizona State) , and then the four-seed Boise State in the quarterfinal.

It's pretty obvious that the most desirable spot to be in the bracket is the five-seed. That seems pretty backward. Fox Sports' Joel Klatt went into further detail on how the decision to not re-seed teams in the bracket fundamentally undermines the incentive to go undefeated in the regular season.

Klatt's right, Ohio State would have a cake walk to the national semifinal if the projections hold. Oregon would actually have a pretty good reason to want to lose the Big Ten title game and be seeded No. 5 in the bracket.

It doesn't make sense that an undefeated, top-ranked team is rewarded with the toughest matchup of the bracket in the quarterfinal but the team that potentially will lose twice to said top-ranked conference champion will get two foes currently ranked outside the Top 10.

This will be an aspect of the postseason the committee will need to address as the transition from the 12-team bracket to the 14-team format is prepared for 2026.