College Football Playoff rankings: Updated 12-team bracket revealed in fifth CFP poll of 2025

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• College Football Playoff rankings 2025
• College Football Playoff bracket 2025
• College Football Playoff predictions
• How College Football Playoff format works
• What time are College Football Playoff rankings revealed?

The official College Football Playoff bracket is still days away, but Tuesday night's rankings offered some answers about how the committee was valuing teams, while also raising more questions. 

Ohio State and Indiana will meet in the Big Ten championship game, with both of them locked into a CFP spot regardless of the result of the game. Texas Tech, Georgia, Oregon and Ole Miss all jumped a Texas A&M team that suffered its first loss against Texas in rivalry week. The Rebels moving up a spot came as a bit of a surprise after former head coach Lane Kiffin left for LSU. The fact that his defensive coordinator is Ole Miss's new head coach, and that he allowed his offensive coordinator to return to Ole Miss for the playoffs, convinced the committee not to drop them. 

The penultimate rankings gave fans and analysts talking points for championship weekend, but they don't really matter. Committee chair Hunter Yurachek said that all teams will be re-ranked after championship weekend and teams not playing this weekend still have a chance to move up or down. 

 Here are the latest top-25 teams as we head into conference championship weekend. 

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College Football Playoff rankings 2025

Who are the top 12 teams in CFP bracket poll?

The top two in the bracket didn't change. Ohio State and Indiana are both locks for the College Football Playoff, and it just remains to be seen which one of them will be representing the Big Ten as a champion. With Texas A&M losing to Texas in rivalry week, the Aggies dropped from No. 3 last week to No. 7 this week. Texas A&M will not play in the SEC Championship game, but will make the CFP bracket given that the Aggies only have one loss.

Texas Tech will take on BYU in the Big 12 championship game. The Red Raiders move from No. 5 to No. 4. One of the most surprising things this week is that Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU and will not coach the Rebels through the CFP. Despite this, the Rebels didn't move down, but instead moved up a spot in the rankings. 

Head-to-head results are not uniformly the deciding factor. While Texas is ahead of Vanderbilt lower in the rankings with the Longhorns having the head-to-head win, Miami beat Notre Dame to open the season, but sits two spots behind the Fighting Irish in the penultimate rankings.

Another change this week was Alabama moving ahead of Notre Dame. This was due to the Crimson Tide's performance in rivalry week, per CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek. He was asked if there can still be movement for teams that aren't playing in a conference championship. Idle teams can move following the results of championship weekend, per Yuracheck. The committee chair also said, "following championship weekend, the top-25 will be re-ranked."

First four teams out

These four teams are on the outside looking in, and there isn't a clear way for them to make the field of 12. Not pictured in the top-12 are the possible two conference champions that will make the bracket. While these four teams are technically still in the hunt, even Texas would need a lot to fall its way to crack the eventual bracket. 

Despite having three losses, Texas got a boost from No. 16 to No. 13 with its win over Texas A&M in rivalry week. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee but stayed put at No. 14. Utah fell to No. 15 despite beating Kansas on the road. USC moved up one spot after beating UCLA in Week 14. 

Rest of the top 25

James Madison cracked the top-25. If the Dukes can win the Sun Belt championship over Troy, they will have a chance to be one of the top five conference champions, vaulting them over teams ahead of them and into the 12-team playoff. This would result in one of the top-12 teams in the rankings, not making the bracket. 

Virginia, Tulane, and North Texas are also playing in their respective conference championships. The Cavaliers, Green Wave, and Mean Green are projected to be in contention, along with the Dukes, for the two remaining conference champion spots in the bracket. The champions of the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 are already going to be included in the other three guaranteed spots for conference champions, regardless of which team in the respective matchups wins. 

The other teams in the back half of the top-25 are not playing in conference championships. They are likely just waiting to see which bowl game awaits them in their future. 

MORE: College football bowl projections

College Football Playoff bracket 2025

College Football Playoff predictions

Here's how TSN's Bill Bender projected the 12-team College Football Playoff ahead of championship week.

MORE: College football picks, predictions for conference championships

How College Football Playoff format works in 2025

While this is the second year of the 12-team playoff, the format is different than last season.

The five highest-ranked conference champions will earn automatic bids, while the next seven-best non-conference champions will earn the wild card spots. From there, the 12 teams in the field will be seeded by ranking, regardless of whether they won their conference championship.

Therefore, the four highest-ranked teams in the field will earn byes, with seeds Nos. 5-12 playing in the first round of the Playoff.

First round

• No. 5 team at No. 12 team
• No. 6 team at No. 11 team
• No. 7 team at No. 10 team
• No. 8 team at No. 9 team

Quarterfinals

• No. 1 team vs. No. 8/9 team
• No. 2 team vs. No. 7/10 team
• No. 3 team vs. No. 6/11 team
• No. 4 team vs. No. 5/12 team

MORE: Why Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU

What time are College Football Playoff rankings released?

Here's a look at the College Football Playoff rankings release schedule for the rest of the year.