There’s just one week left to secure a spot in the 2025 College Football Playoff.
The second-to-last playoff ranking of the 2025 season was released Tuesday night, giving a final glimpse of which teams are sure bets for the playoffs— and which need a final boost— ahead of Decision Day this Sunday.
The field was shaken up this week when Texas’ stunning upset of Texas A&M put the Aggies at risk of missing out on a first-round bye.
Here’s a look at how the rankings ended up in the second-to-last Top 25 ranking of the season.
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Georgia
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- BYU
- Miami
- Texas
- Vanderbilt
- Utah
- USC
- Virginia
- Arizona
- Michigan
- Tulane
- Houston
- Georgia Tech
- Iowa
- North Texas
- James Madison
Vanderbilt and Utah were both left below the 12-team cut in Tuesdays rankings.
Ole Miss, which went into last weekend ranked No. 7, closed out the regular season with a 38-19 Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State that was enough to bump the Rebels up by one spot.
Parting ways with Lane Kiffin, who will take over at LSU next season, while promoting former defensive coordinator Pete Golding to the head coach apparently wasn’t enough to shake the selection committee’s confidence in the Rebels.
Ohio State held on to its top spot by defeating Michigan in the regular season finale. Indiana remained the only other undefeated team in the playoff with a season-ending blowout of unranked Purdue.
The top four saw a major shift, however, when Texas A&M suffered a costly loss to Texas last Friday.
That allowed the Longhorns to climb up to No. 13 while dropping the Aggies to No. 7.
That would still giving Texas A&M a home game, but allowed Georgia a chance to sneak into the top three.
That seeding matters more than ever now that the CFP has shifted its bracket rules to give the four highest-ranked teams first round byes, regardless of whether they have won their conference championships.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is campaigning for both Texas Tech and BYU to make it into the playoff, regardless of the results of his conference’s title game.
The Red Raiders are holding a comfortable top-four spot heading into Decision Day, but the Cougars could be left out of the final bracket if they fall in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game.
The top two teams in college football will face off when Ohio State and Indiana kick off the Big Ten championship game. Alabama, which remained a top 10 team after defeating Auburn, will have to beat Georgia for a second time this season in order to win the SEC title game.
Things remain in flux in the ACC, where Virginia climbed the rankings after defeating Virginia Tech. A win over Duke in the ACC championship game could put the Cavaliers on track for their first playoff berth.
If the game goes the other way, however, Duke could be a tough sell to the selection committee after a 7-5 finish to the regular season.
Miami has meanwhile spent the entirety of the 2025 season ranked behind Notre Dame, prompting Miami head coach Mario Cristobal to urge the selection committee to consider the Hurricanes’ Week 1 win over the Fighting Irish in their final ranking.
Despite that head-to-head record, Miami was left below Notre Dame, likely at least in part due to their overtime loss to SMU last month. The Canes also missed out on the conference title game due to a tiebreaker with Duke.
The top five highest-ranked conference champions are set to receive automatic bids to the second year of the expanded playoff. That leaves open the possibility that the Hurricanes could be left out of the final playoff picture entirely.
Notre Dame meanwhile slipped down one spot to No. 10 in the final ranking after following up an 0-2 start with 10 straight wins. The Fighting Irish will now wait to see if Alabama can win the SEC title game and threaten their CFP hopes.
The 12-team playoff will be finalized Sunday when the CFP selection show airs on ESPN starting at noon.
