College Football Playoff rankings: Top 4 teams remain, 3 drop from projected bracket

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Penn State held on to the top spots in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, the selection committee announced. Three other schools dropped from the projected list.

The No. 1 Oregon Ducks (11-0), who were on bye, and No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1) held their spots for the fourth-consecutive week. No. 3 Texas Longhorns (10-1) and No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions (10-1) followed them for the third-straight week.

A fourth edition of the rankings is coming Tuesday. Selection day for the first expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff will be Dec. 8.

"We have 13 people who all don't see everything the same way," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, chairman of the selection committee, said during a teleconference. "It's not one of these rooms where people are afraid to speak their minds if they think differently about how teams are playing.

"There are moments when there's a lot of debate in the room and people are expressing different perspectives, and that is the great thing about what we do. That gets us to a point where we can really figure that we have done everything we can do and made all the arguments and done the votes in a way that we get what we believe are the best 25 teams in the country."

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1), who beat the Army Black Knights (9-1), moved up No. 5 from No. 6. They replaced the Indiana Hoosiers (10-1), who dropped to No. 10 after losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Black Knights, who were ranked No. 19 last week, dropped out of the Top 25.

"We moved them out of the Top 25 based on what others had done also behind them, and so we'll continue to monitor Army, and we still think that they're a really good team," Manuel said. "We just felt that given where they were this week that they moved out of The top 25."

The Alabama Crimson Tide (8-2), who lost to the Oklahoma Sooners (6-5), tumbled from to No. 13 from No. 7 The Miami Hurricanes (10-1) beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-7) to climb to No. 6 from No. 8. The Georgia Bulldogs (9-2) used a 59-21 victory over the UMass Minutemen to climb to No. 7 from No. 10.

The Tennessee Volunteers, who trounced the UTEP Miners (2-9) 56-0, moved up to No. 8 from No. 11. The SMU Mustangs (10-1) beat the Virginia Cavaliers (5-6) jumped to No. 9 from No. 13.

The No. 11 Boise State Broncos (10-1), No. 12 Clemson Tigers (9-2), No. 14 Ole Miss Rebels (8-3) and No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks (8-3) join the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Top 15 of the latest rankings.

The Arizona State Sun Devils (9-2) beat the BYU Cougars (9-2) 28-23 on Saturday to rise to No. 18 from No. 21. The Cougars dropped to No. 19 from No. 14 because of that setback.

The No. 17 Tulane Green Wave (9-2), No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones (9-2) and No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies (8-3) are among the other Top 20 programs.

The Missouri Tigers (8-3) beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-9) to rise from to No. 21 from No. 23. The Colorado Buffaloes (8-3), who lost to the Kansas Jayhawks (5-6), fell to No. 25 from No. 16.

The UNLV Rebels (9-2) beat the San Jose State Spartans (6-5) to move No. 22 from No. 24. The Illinois Fighting Illini (8-3), who were No. 25 last week, rose to No. 23 this week.

The No. 24 Kansas State Wildcats (8-3), who fell out of the Top 25 last week, jumped back in, thanks to a 41-15 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-6).

Like last week, the Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns, Miami Hurricanes and Boise State Broncos are on track to get the Top 4 seeds -- and first-round byes -- in the projected playoff bracket.

The Ohio State Buckeyes -- the expected No. 5 seed -- are projected to face the Arizona State Sun Devils -- who replaced the BYU Broncos as the projected No. 12 seed -- in the first round. The winner of that matchup would play Boise State in a projected quarterfinal.

The other projected first-round matchups are Tennessee-Georgia, Indiana-Penn State and SMU-Notre Dame, with the winners eying potential games against Oregon, Miami and Texas, respectively.

The top-ranked Ducks will test their undefeated record when they host the Washington Huskies (6-5) on Saturday in Eugene, Ore.

The No. 2 Buckeyes will host the rival Michigan Wolverines (6-5) on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. The No. 3 Longhorns will play the No. 20 Aggies on Saturday in College Station, Texas.

The No. 4 Nittany Lions will host the Maryland Terrapins (4-7) on Saturday in University Park, Pa. The No. 12 Clemson Tigers will host the No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks in Saturday's first matchup between ranked teams. That game will kick off at noon EST in Clemson, S.C.

The No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones will host the No. 24 Kansas State Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Ames, Iowa.

The quarterfinals will be held Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 at the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff semifinals will be held Jan. 9 and 10 at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl.

The College Football Playoff National Championship will be played Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.