As the college football season enters Week 12, the race to the postseason gets more interesting with each passing day. After the first official rankings and projected bracket for the College Football Playoff dropped last week, the latest edition now arrives and brings some slight shakeups. Nothing is yet set in stone since as we all know so well, anything can happen in this sport.
There are some interesting trends to note here in relation to DraftKings Sportsbook’s odds for each team to make the final College Football Playoff field. Here’s a breakdown comparing the updated rankings and brackets to our own numbers before Week 12 kicks off.
College Football Playoff rankings, odds
The updated College Football Playoff rankings have arrived — here’s a look at the latest projected bracket along with details on the DraftKings Sportsbook odds for each team below.
Unsurprisingly, the top-four teams in the field remain unchanged from last week’s initial bracket. Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M are all unbeaten to this point and sit in the top three, with Alabama joining them as the fourth highest-ranked team with the final bye week. As mentioned previously, the Crimson Tide make it into this rarified air thanks to a victory over Georgia which could prove crucial if both teams win out moving forward. Regardless, both of those teams are so both are virtual locks at -2000 odds to make the College Football Playoff on DraftKings Sportsbook.
As for the teams without a first-round bye to open the postseason, Georgia does lead the pack at No. 5. They’re followed by Texas Tech, a program which rose three spots from No. 9 last week after a standout 29-7 win over the previous Big 12 leader BYU. The Red Raiders now sit atop the conference with -1200 odds to make the CFP, a massive shift from -300 after the first rankings dropped. That leaves them with better odds than all but the top four and Ole Miss, which claims the No. 7 spot with a significant shift to -2000 odds from -1000 last week.
No. 8 and No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings are also major programs with clear shots at making the final field. Oregon sits eighth with -400 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook while Notre Dame comes in at ninth with -380 odds. Neither are surprises by any means, though the Ducks saw a greater shift in odds from last week’s mark of -220.
The final three spots in the bracket are where things truly get interesting. Last week, these were occupied by Notre Dame at No. 10, Virginia at No. 11, and Memphis at No. 12 — the latter two playoff berths secured by the two remaining highest-ranked conference champions. Ahead of Week 12, Texas now occupies the 10th seed with +190 odds to make the final field after being the first team out last week. The Longhorns were on a bye but now face a very difficult test against Georgia in SEC play, so the outcome of this game could send some shockwaves throughout the sport’s landscape if Arch Manning and Co. can pull off an upset on the road.
After an ugly Virginia loss to Wake Forest in Week 11, the No. 11 seed is now occupied by Miami. The Hurricanes’ odds sit at +400 on DraftKings Sportsbook, but they’re the highest-ranked ACC competitor in the CFP rankings at No. 15 and could potentially still make a play at the conference title if everything breaks in their favor. Elsewhere in the ACC, Georgia Tech (+190) sits atop the standings but falls 16th in the rankings, while Virginia (+850), Louisville (+1000) and Pittsburgh (+800) are 19th, 20th, and 22nd. This will likely be the cause of much debate over the coming week with Miami seventh in the conference, though of course it can change in an instant.
Finally, that leaves the No. 12 CFP seed up for grabs. The American Conference once again sees representation, but Memphis (+2500) is out in favor of South Florida (+125). The Bulls are No. 24 in the latest rankings and are tied for second in the conference standings with Tulane (+650) behind only Navy. However, North Texas also lurks as well with an identical 4-1 conference record to both USF and Tulane, and while the Mean Green lost to the former earlier this season and don’t play against the latter, they actually hold +200 odds to make the College Football Playoff. South Florida plays Navy this week and a loss would practically eliminate the Bulls from contention, lifting the other teams higher in the picture. While the American Conference picture remains complicated, it’s one of the most intriguing to keep an eye on over the home stretch of the regular season.
That leaves us with teams on the outside looking in. The first two out as things stand now are Oklahoma and BYU. The Sooners were also in this group last week with +350 odds to make the CFP, but they’ve jumped to +230 coming out of the bye week. As for the Cougars, the situation grows a bit dire after the loss to Texas Tech as they dropped from +160 to +350, placing them firmly behind other teams like James Madison (+250), Utah (+300), USC (+340) and Vanderbilt (+350).
Here’s a look at the top-25 rankings courtesy of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
