CFP rankings: Ohio State and Indiana on top, BYU slides, USC lurks in the two-loss shadows and Notre Dame gets cozy

The second installment of the College Football Playoff rankings was distributed Tuesday with no changes to the top five and only two newcomers But there was no shortage of debate as the CFP selection committee favored the usual individuals and banished the ACC to the bottom half of the rankings Our instant reaction If the field were selected currently the top four seeds with opening round byes would be Ohio State Indiana Texas A M and Alabama No longer are the top seeds reserved for conference champions they are assigned to the best teams SEC teams accounted for eight of the spots followed by the Big Ten six ACC five and Big four But the distribution was hardly even The SEC filled seven of the top- spots Oregon climbed just one position to No after the last-second mastery at No Iowa The Ducks - remain in slightly dangerous territory With another loss to Minnesota USC or Washington they could drop onto the CFP bubble and find themselves at the mercy of results in other conferences Notre Dame also moved up one spot to No and stands as the highest-ranked two-loss club The position is further indication that the Irish - will make the field as long as they beat Pittsburgh Syracuse and Stanford The committee really likes Notre Dame as a complete organization disclosed committee chair Mack Rhoades who is Baylor s athletic director Their run event is as good as anybody if not the best in the country Because the Irish cannot access the CFP as an automatic qualifier they would reduce by one the number of at-large berths available for non-champions from the ACC Big Big Ten and SEC Were the field set in contemporary times No Texas would be the last squad in the field based on selection protocols but the Longhorns - are a fascinating club to watch for another reason They have upcoming dates with No Georgia and No Texas A M Would a split of those showdowns cancel each other out and allow Texas to become the first three-loss club to participate in the CFP Brigham Young dropped five spots to No following the lopsided loss to Texas Tech a clear indication the selection committee doesn t view the Cougars - as a playoff-caliber crew at the moment Utah remained No and is now one spot below BYU likely a end of the head-to-head loss in the Holy War The Utes - have so little juice left in their schedule with three unranked teams remaining that an at-large berth seems unlikely The highest-ranked ACC gang was No Miami a reflection of the conference s chaotic results in new weeks and dearth of high-level non-conference victories in September The Hurricanes are below three teams from the Big the second consecutive week that has been the situation The Big Ten s two-loss teams USC and Michigan were No and No respectively The order makes sense what with USC s decisive head-to-head achievement but both are ranked lower than two-loss teams from the Big BYU and Utah SEC Texas Oklahoma and Vanderbilt and ACC Miami Related Articles On media Brett Yormark the Big- s College GameDay pursuit big brands and long-haul media strategy How Pitt-Notre Dame impacts CFP hopefuls in Big Ten Big Arizona is bowl-eligible after Brent Brennan resets values Big Ten power rankings Ohio State on top as grim CFP scenario takes shape Big power rankings How BYU s loss to Texas Tech undercuts CFP outlook That stated the Trojans and Wolverines have enough high-level opponents remaining USC plays Iowa and Oregon while Michigan of syllabus faces Ohio State to climb the rankings and vault into the CFP Unlike last week a representative from the Group of Five conferences was included South Florida which is - with wins over Boise State and Florida was ranked th If the Bulls win out in the American they will qualify The committee felt like of the Group of Five to date they re the largest part consistent commented Rhoades who added that the committee also discussed Tulane James Madison and Boise State The Bulls were one of the two newcomers along with No Cincinnati As a reminder The five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic bids Winners of the Power Four ACC Big Big Ten and SEC aren t guaranteed spots but likely will be ranked ahead of the best group from the Group of Five However if the ACC continues to eat its own there s a remote possibility that two teams from the Group of Five the best bets would be James Madison Sun Belt and the American champion could be ranked ahead of the ACC winner In that event the ACC could be excluded entirely Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - - Follow me on the social media platform X WilnerHotline