Yahoo Sports Boise State has slight shift in College Football Playoff rankings. Here’s the breakdown
The season’s second College Football Playoff 12-team bracket was released Tuesday evening, and Boise State took a slight dip in the rankings.
The Broncos, ranked No. 12 last week, fell to No. 13.
But that didn’t move them one iota on the bracket. Boise State remained in as the No. 12 seed. The committee right now is projecting conference champions by regular season standings, so the Broncos, who sit atop the Mountain West, would get an automatic bid as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.
A hard-fought 28-21 victory over Nevada over the weekend wasn’t enough to convince the 13-person committee that the Broncos deserved to move up. An emphatic 28-10 win for Ole Miss over Georgia saw the Rebels jump over Boise State to No. 11 in the rankings. Georgia, meanwhile, slipped to No. 12, but would miss out on the playoffs if they started today.
A similar move happened in this week’s Associated Press Top 25, where the Broncos slipped from No. 12 to No. 13.
The four highest-ranked conference champions across the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) will earn a bye through the first round of the playoffs, while the fifth champion will earn an automatic bid but have to play in the first round. The other seven spots are filled with at-large teams.
If the CFP were to start today, Boise State would travel to No. 5 seed Ohio State, even though the Buckeyes are No. 2 in the rankings. The four top conference champs fill the 1-4 seeds.
Outside of winning the Mountain West, the Broncos will need to keep an eye on Army of the American Athletic Conference. Army remains undefeated at 9-0 but is No. 24 in the CFP rankings, so the Black Knights have a lot of ground to make up.
Army has a bye this week before facing No. 8 Notre Dame on Nov. 23 in a huge game. A loss would likely drop the Black Knights out of the rankings, while a win would give them a massive boost. If they go unbeaten and win the AAC, they could grab that fifth automatic spot that will go to a Group of Five team.
Boise State also can’t afford any slip-ups. Next up for the Broncos is a road trip to San Jose State, whose passing game could cause some troubles.
The Broncos will also be keeping an eye on No. 6 BYU, which remains undefeated. The Cougars are the only Big 12 team ranked higher than BSU after a 22-21 victory over Utah last weekend. If Boise State wins out and BYU doesn’t, it could claim one of the four byes ahead of the Big 12 champion.
The CFP will release updated rankings every Tuesday. Here’s the week 2 list:
Oregon
Ohio State
Texas
Penn State
Indiana
BYU
Tennessee
Notre Dame
Miami
Alabama
Ole Miss
Georgia
Boise State
SMU
Texas A&M
Kansas State
Colorado
Washington State
Louisville
Clemson
South Carolina
LSU
Missouri
Army
Tulane
