We are starting the College Football Playoff bracket early in Week 14 because a host of Friday games have CFP implications. Throughout this weekend’s slate, Sports Illustrated will give an updated look at the playoff seeding and matchups.
Update at 11:30 p.m. ET Friday:
Never, in the history of college football, does rivalry week go according to plan. Chalk just doesn’t happen as you expect it to no matter what the rankings next to the school names may lead you to believe. This year, especially, with so many potential College Football Playoff teams traveling on the road to in-state foes, you just knew there would be a few late twists that were bound to shake up the postseason picture.
On Friday night in Austin, we received our first major upset of the weekend as Texas continued to hold rival Texas A&M at arm’s length since the renewal of their annual series to deny the Aggies their first trip to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. Not only did it become the maroon and white’s first blemish of the season, but it salvaged a bit of one for the burnt orange in what has been a mostly lost 2025 since being named the preseason No. 1.
Setting aside the feelings being felt around the Lone Star State depending on where your loyalties reside, that end result was not the worst thing in the world. Texas A&M was assured of a CFP spot regardless of the outcome and now will get to host a playoff game at Kyle Field in the first round—likely against the Group of 5 team or ACC champion. The Aggies would probably draw a decent quarterfinal matchup, too, potentially against Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. It will sting for the Aggies for another year, but the alternative could be worse.
It also allows for a full week of debate over the candidacy of Texas as an at-large team in the playoff—the ideal scenario if you’re conference commissioner Greg Sankey after over a year of stumping for an increased emphasis on strength of schedule. It’s still an uphill battle, but if any three-loss team is going to break the bracket seal, it’s this one.
Oh, and for good measure that final score sends Georgia to the SEC title game where the Bulldogs will face either a rematch against Alabama or … Lane Kiffin and Mississippi if the Tide lose the Iron Bowl on the Plains.
It may not be to script, but it is a delightful way to wrap up Black Friday.
Update at 7 a.m. ET Friday:
The best week in college football has arrived. Sit back, relax and eat up those Thanksgiving leftovers as we have two full slates of action Friday and Saturday featuring plenty of incredible rivalry games, nearly every conference title game berth up for grabs and the College Football Playoff entering make-or-break territory for several programs on the bubble. With chilly weather in parts of the country and other potential conditions on the field, it’s shaping up to be quite the memorable weekend in the sport as the regular season comes to a close.
Now, it’s not often that every result matters, but in Week 14, that is true. We could be down to conference winning percentage being decided by the final game of the final full Saturday of the season depending on how things go and there are a number of other scenarios that could play out which will have an eventual impact on the CFP race. Throw in a host of home underdogs and tons of coaching staffs (and players) thinking about their next move and this could be a weekend full of fireworks as much as it could be full of chalk.
Here’s how the bracket looks going into what should be an eventful holiday weekend in the sport from coast to coast.
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- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Georgia
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Texas A&M
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Virginia
- Tulane
Tulane has a simple task: beat 1–10 Charlotte for the right to host the American championship game against North Texas. That puts the Green Wave on the doorstep of the playoff no matter what head coach Jon Sumrall decides to do on Sunday. The Ducks have a tricky one in Seattle against Washington but will be virtually assured with the easiest first-round game in Autzen Stadium on top of a potentially excellent path through the bracket if they do so convincingly.
Those graphics we get of the bracket every Tuesday continue to be misleading as both the Cavaliers and SMU are the ones who only have to win on Saturday to make it to Charlotte for the ACC title game—not No. 12 Miami. Tony Elliott has done an incredible job but can cap it off by beating Virginia Tech at home and inch closer to a first-round game. As for Mike Elko’s side, we’re about to find out if the old adage of losing before the tournament that seems to become a talking point around March Madness holds any water when it comes to the football version of the bracket.
The Rebels locked up a berth in the CFP by thumping their rivals in Starkville, Miss., but now comes the waiting to see if their head coach will be on the way out and whether that impacts the possibility of hosting a playoff game. Safe to say it will be the biggest 24 hours for the program away from the field in some time. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide are in a fairly precarious position, needing to win to lock up the trip to Atlanta for the SEC title game and keep their CFP hopes alive in the Iron Bowl.
It sure feels like the Sooners are going to play a win-and-in game at home against an LSU that could barely get past Western Kentucky last week. On top of not losing that, Brent Venables should do everything he can to ensure Oklahoma puts up as many points as it can in order to host a CFP game because the line between the Sooners and the Irish is not a thick one.
What a double dose of luck for the Red Raiders on Friday night. While nobody in Lubbock would have been actively cheering on a Texas team, the fact that they did beat hated rival Texas A&M so that Tech could earn a quarterfinal berth—likely the Cotton Bowl a short(ish) drive away—is the best-case scenario for the team going into the Big 12 title game.
Kirby Smart might be the lone coach in the country who is thrilled every time he has an opportunity to win the conference title. Even better, the trip back to Atlanta for the Bulldogs prevents what could have been a full monthlong layoff between that win over Georgia Tech and their quarterfinal.
It’s pretty incredible, even for non-Indiana fans, to somehow wrap your mind around the Hoosiers beginning this season as the losingest FBS program in the sport and somehow locking up their second straight CFP appearance with an undefeated regular season. Curt Cignetti is surely a miracle worker, but there’s one more opportunity that beckons just up the road in Indianapolis next Saturday.
Scratch out the Ms around Columbus, Ohio, because The Game has just about arrived. You want to say that the reigning national champions are ready to put their foot down on the pedal at the Big House but, after last season, all scenarios are on for the Buckeyes … and the playoff.
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