College Football Playoff rankings, Dec. 3: Alabama rises above other bubble teams

The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings for the 2024 campaign have been unveiled.

The College Football Playoff will begin a new era this fall as it expands to 12 teams for the first time. Beginning in 2024, the 5 highest-ranked conference champions will all receive automatic bids into the field. That leaves 7 at-large berths for programs considered worthy of inclusion by the selection committee. The top 4 spots in the bracket, earned by the highest-ranked conference champions, will each receive first-round byes.

First-round CFP games will be played at campus sites from Dec. 20-21. Teams who advance from that round will play in quarterfinal games from Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 at traditional bowl sites. The Fiesta Bowl will host the first quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve while the other 3 quarterfinal matchups will take place on Jan. 1 at the Peach Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

For the semifinals, those games are slated for Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl, respectively. Finally, the national championship game will be played in Atlanta on Jan. 20.

Here’s a look at the penultimate top 25 from the CFP selection committee in the 12-team Playoff era:

1. Oregon
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4. Notre Dame
5. Georgia
6. Ohio State
7. Tennessee
8. SMU
9. Indiana
10. Boise State
11. Alabama
12. Miami
13. Ole Miss
14. South Carolina
15. Arizona State
16. Iowa State
17. Clemson
18. BYU
19. Missouri
20. UNLV
21. Illinois
22. Syracuse
23. Colorado
24. Army
25. Memphis

Spenser Davis

Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.