The College Football Playoff committee unveiled its Top 25 on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET.
This marks the 12th year of the committee selection show and the second involving a 12-team College Football Playoff. When the first five teams were revealed, it became immediately clear that the American Conference would be snubbed the 12-team committee consisting primarily of current athletic directors and former FBS head coaches.
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In years past, the AP Poll typically showed more friendliness to American teams than the CFP committee did, and that remains the case in 2025. Memphis, which holds a No. 22 ranking in the current AP Poll, was not ranked by the committee Tuesday night. Neither were fellow American contenders North Texas and South Florida, which sit on the fringe of the AP rankings.
Yet, if the season were to end today, Memphis would qualify for the College Football Playoff. The committee showed its mock bracket on ESPN’s Tuesday night television programming, penciling in the 8-1 Tigers as the No. 12 seed, facing No. 5 seed Georgia in the first round. The five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of conference, are guaranteed automatic bids, but only four conferences (plus independent Notre Dame) were represented in the committee’s initial rankings. Although, we do not know Memphis’ numerical rank, this guarantees the Tigers are currently slotted higher than any opponent from the American, as well as the other unrepresented leagues — the Sun Belt, Mountain West, MAC, and Conference USA.
Memphis is outside the top 12 yet in the bracket, and the same situation can be seen with Virginia. Since the ACC does not have a team within the top 12, Virginia takes the No. 11 seed as the fourth-highest ranked conference leader. The full projected bracket, aligning with Tuesday’s rankings, is below:
The full top 25 rankings are below:
|
Rank |
Team |
Record |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Ohio State |
8-0 |
|
2 |
Indiana |
9-0 |
|
3 |
Texas A&M |
8-0 |
|
4 |
Alabama |
7-1 |
|
5 |
Georgia |
7-1 |
|
6 |
Ole Miss |
8-1 |
|
7 |
BYU |
8-0 |
|
8 |
Texas Tech |
8-1 |
|
9 |
Oregon |
7-1 |
|
10 |
Notre Dame |
6-2 |
|
11 |
Texas |
7-2 |
|
12 |
Oklahoma |
7-2 |
|
13 |
Utah |
7-2 |
|
14 |
Virginia |
8-1 |
|
15 |
Louisville |
7-1 |
|
16 |
Vanderbilt |
7-2 |
|
17 |
Georgia Tech |
8-1 |
|
18 |
Miami (FL) |
6-2 |
|
19 |
USC |
6-2 |
|
20 |
Iowa |
6-2 |
|
21 |
Michigan |
7-2 |
|
22 |
Missouri |
6-2 |
|
23 |
Washington |
6-2 |
|
24 |
Pittsburgh |
7-2 |
|
25 |
Tennessee |
6-3 |
Memphis, which likely controls its own destiny for a CFP bid, continues its trek through 2025 with Tulane on Friday. The Tigers then conclude the regular season with a visit to East Carolina on Nov. 15 and a home matchup with Navy on Thanksgiving. It will be a challenging stretch as all three looming opponents currently have exactly one conference loss and remain players in a crowded American Conference race.
