College Football Playoff 2025 Rankings Released for Week 12 with Top Risers, Fallers

Another week of data points means a new set of College Football Playoff rankings, and the latest edition was released Tuesday.

There wasn't much significant change with most of the top contenders taking care of business and Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M remaining undefeated, but BYU, Virginia and Louisville all fell following losses.

Here is a look at the updated rankings, which are not the same as the projected bracket because the five highest-ranked conference champions earn automatic bids.

The four highest-ranked teams overall will receive the first-round byes.

1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Texas Tech
7. Ole Miss
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas
11. Oklahoma
12. BYU
13. Utah
14. Vanderbilt
15. Miami
16. Georgia Tech
17. USC
18. Michigan
19. Virginia
20. Louisville
21. Iowa
22. Pittsburgh
23. Tennessee
24. South Florida
25. Cincinnati

While Texas Tech is still looking up at a handful of contenders, perhaps nobody had a better Saturday than the Red Raiders.

They steamrolled BYU 29-7 in Week 11's headline matchup to put themselves in the driver's seat for a Big 12 title and potential first-round bye in the CFP. With their final two games against 4-5 UCF and 4-6 West Virginia, it is difficult to envision anything other than Texas Tech competing for a top CFP spot when it takes the field in the Big 12 title game.

Full Brigham Young Cougars - Texas Tech Red Raiders Highlights

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Saturday's slate was far less ideal for some of the ACC contenders.

Virginia lost at home to Wake Forest, while Louisville lost at home to California. With everyone in the conference having multiple losses except for 8-1 Georgia Tech and three weeks remaining until league title games, the ACC feels like a one-bid league. 

And even that one bid could be somewhat in jeopardy if a Duke team that went 1-3 out of conference ends up parlaying its 4-1 start in ACC play into a league championship.

As for the undefeated teams on top of the rankings, Saturday was a smooth road for two of them with Ohio State handling Purdue and Texas A&M cruising past Missouri. It seemed like Indiana was also well on its way to a straightforward win over Penn State with a 13-point lead in the second half, but the Nittany Lions had other plans.

Penn State parlayed a fourth-quarter interception of Fernando Mendoza into a go-ahead score, but the Hoosiers quarterback overcame his struggles with one brilliant drive to preserve the team's undefeated record with a touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. in the final minute.

Cooper's body control and ability to get a foot in bounds was the highlight of the week.

UNREAL Indiana GW TD 🤯

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Indiana wasn't the only Big Ten contender to survive on the road, as Oregon needed a last-second field goal to defeat Iowa. In similar fashion, Vanderbilt kept its CFP chances alive with an overtime victory over Auburn in the SEC.

The near upsets underscored how much pressure there is on each contender at this point of the season, and that won't change during Week 12 with Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, Oklahoma at Alabama, and Texas at Georgia.

If Alabama and Georgia take care of business, it could eliminate the Sooners and Longhorns from the CFP race since they would each have three losses. But if one or both of the road teams earn the upset, the SEC could be looking at even more teams in the field.