College football rankings, Projected CFP Top 25: How the 12-team bracket will look

Whatever happens on Tuesday night happens... With the College Football Playoff Selection Committee coming together for the first time this season, the AP Top 25 Poll will soon become even less important in regards to the greatest sport on Planet Earth. These 13 or so individuals have prepared their whole lives for this, which is to now give us the 12 best teams in all of college football.

For the first 10 years of the College Football Playoff format, the Selection Committee only had to identify and seed the four best teams in college football. No other criteria mattered. Now with playoff expansion, it must figure out who the five best conference champions are, as well as the seven best remaining at-large teams. It has made the playoff discussion even more intriguing up to this point.

So what I am going to do today is forecast how I believe the Selection Committee will rank the 25 best teams in college football and go from there. Remember that the four highest ranked conference champions get a first-round bye and thus, will be seeded accordingly. Just because a team is ranked inside the top four by the Selection Committee does not guarantee it will be getting a top-four seed.

Without further ado, let's get the ball rolling with the projected playoff rankings and then the bracket.

Projected Top 25 College Football Playoff Rankings

This is what I believe the Selection Committee will decide are the 25 best teams ahead of this week.

1. Oregon Ducks: (9-0)
2. Ohio State Buckeyes: (7-1)
3. Georgia Bulldogs: (7-1)
4. Miami Hurricanes: (9-0)
5. Texas Longhorns: (7-1)
6. BYU Cougars: (8-0)
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: (7-1)
8. Tennessee Volunteers: (7-1)
9. Indiana Hoosiers: (9-0)
10. Penn State Nittany Lions: (7-1)
11. SMU Mustangs: (8-1)
12. Alabama Crimson Tide: (6-2)
13. Boise State Broncos: (7-1)
14. Texas A&M Aggies: (7-2)
15. LSU Tigers: (6-2)
16. Ole Miss Rebels: (7-2)
17. Iowa State Cyclones: (7-1)
18. Pittsburgh Panthers: (7-1)
19. Washington State Cougars: (7-1)
20. Army Black Knights: (8-0)
21. Clemson Tigers: (6-2)
22. Kansas State Wildcats: (7-2)
23. Colorado Buffaloes: (6-2)
24. Missouri Tigers: (6-2)
25. Vanderbilt Commodores: (6-3)

There are obviously several differences between what I think the Selection Committee will value when compared to what the Associated Press values. I would venture to guess that teams like BYU, SMU and even Pittsburgh may be viewed better than how the Associated Press sees them. Conversely, they will not be as enamored with the likes of Penn State, Alabama and even Georgia...

Projected College Football Playoff Bracket

And with the top 25 rankings already projected, here is what the latest playoff bracket may look like.

1. Oregon Ducks: (9-0) (Projected BigTen champion)
2. Georgia Bulldogs: (7-1) (Projected SEC champion)
3. Miami Hurricanes: (9-0) (Projected ACC champion)
4. BYU Cougars: (8-0) (Projected Big 12 champion)
5. Ohio State Buckeyes: (7-1) (Projected Big Ten runner-up)
6. Texas Longhorns: (7-1) (Projected SEC runner-up)
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: (7-1) (Projected national independent at-large)
8. Tennessee Volunteers: (7-1) (Projected SEC at-large)
9. Indiana Hoosiers: (9-0) (Projected Big Ten at-large)
10. Penn State Nittany Lions: (7-1) (Projected Big Ten at-large)
11. SMU Mustangs: (8-1) (Projected ACC runner-up)
12. Boise State Broncos: (7-1) (Projected Mountain West/Group of Five champion)

Unfortunately, these would be the first four teams out, according to my projected playoff rankings...

• 13. Alabama Crimson Tide: (6-2) (SEC)
• 14. Texas A&M Aggies: (7-2) (SEC)
• 15. LSU Tigers: (6-2) (SEC)
• 16. Ole Miss Rebels: (7-2) (SEC)

Unless you happen to root for Indiana or Texas, nobody is going to bat an eye at the four teams projected to get a first-round bye in Oregon, Georgia, Miami and BYU. There may be some debate to having Miami ahead of Georgia, or even BYU ahead of Miami, but those are the right four teams projected to have byes after this week. They would not have to host a home game in the first round.

I project that No. 5 Ohio State will host No. 12 Boise State in their first-round game. No. 6 Texas will host No. 11 SMU in what was a former conference game way back in the day in the Southwest. With midwest energy coursing through our veins, No. 7 Notre Dame will host No. 10 Penn State in South Bend. To wrap it up, No. 8 Tennessee would host No. 9 Indiana in a game that feels very Music City.

My big takeaway on who was ultimately left out is there is so much to be decided in the SEC, as illustrated by all four of my first teams out being from that league. I could not in good faith put Iowa State in the same neighborhood now that the Cyclones have one loss with the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU and Oklahoma. One, maybe two, of those teams, could end up making the playoff.

The only thing we know for certain is the playoff rankings will differ greatly from the latest AP Top 25.