Bowl projections: Texas Tech replaces BYU in College Football Playoff bracket, Oregon avoids chaos

There were a couple near upsets in the Big Ten that would've tossed College Football Playoff projections into a jumbled mess, but unbeaten Indiana and one-loss Oregon prevailed on their final possessions against Penn State and Iowa, respectively, away from home to keep pace behind top-ranked Ohio State.

Texas Tech's 29-7 destruction of BYU gets the Red Raiders back on track as leaders of the Big 12 and puts the Cougars' upcoming game against Cincinnati as a potential winner-take-all chance to play the Joey McGuire's team in the conference title game. However, Texas Texas must win out, too, and the Big 12 has been anything but predictable this fall.

The selection committee's first playoff rankings gave us an early inkling of this year's potential 12-team bracket, but remember, this poll is fluid with wild fluctuation expected over the next few weeks. Last year's Big 12 champion, Arizona State, did not appear in either of the playoff's first two top 25 rankings before getting hot and winning the conference.

After Week 11, we're expecting five SEC teams, three from the Big Ten, Notre Dame, the ACC champion, the Big 12 champion and the Group of Five's highest-ranked team to fill out the expanded bracket.

College Football Playoff 

Quarterfinals 

First round

Don't see your team? Check out Brad Crawford's complete bowl projections.

Projected College Football Playoff Field breakdown

1. Ohio State (projected Big Ten champion): Will the Buckeyes have two Heisman finalists this season? Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith's performance at Purdue should get both of them invites to New York. Ohio State is the nation's best, most complete team and it's not particularly close.

2. Texas A&M (projected SEC champion): Every week, Mike Elko's boys play angry. The Aggies did it again in Week 11, and now they're off to their best single-season start since 1992 with three games left to get to 12-0 before their trip to Atlanta. Keep an eye on that finale at Texas in a few weeks for this squad.

3. Indiana: Welcome to New York, Fernando Mendoza. With no timeouts and 80 yards to go, the Hoosiers star quarterback cemented his trip to the Heisman ceremony with a drive for the ages at Penn State. Mendoza's 7-yard toss to a leaping Omari Cooper in the back of the end zone extended Indiana's winning streak to 10 this season and puts the Hoosiers two wins away from locking in a berth in the Big Ten title game.

4. Alabama: No worries, Crimson Tide. Alabama didn't know what to expect out of a Brian Kelly-less LSU team, but a touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Ryan Williams just before halftime sucked the air out of the balloon for the Tigers' upset chances. Alabama is wins over Oklahoma and Auburn away from getting to the league championship game with an opportunity to seize the No. 2 seed.

5. Georgia: Fueled by three touchdown passes from Gunner Stockton and Nate Frazier's 100-plus yard outing on the ground, Georgia took Mississippi State behind the woodshed in its own backyard. Fresh off its first SEC win in a couple seasons, Mississippi State trailed by 17 points at halftime and was out-classed by one of the league's top teams.

6. Ole Miss: The Rebels got a breather at home against The Citadel, dismantling the Bulldogs without any hiccups ahead of next week's battle against Florida. With two more wins, Ole Miss finishes 11-1 and will await its first-round opponent at home, unless there's chaos ahead of Lane Kiffin's program at the top of the SEC.

7. Texas Tech (projected Big 12 champion): If the Red Raiders can turn field goals into touchdowns inside the red zone the rest of the way, there's nothing to worry about for the Big 12's most talented team. Saturday's blowout victory over previously unbeaten BYU knocks the Cougars from this week's projection, but these teams could meet again in a couple of weeks.

8. Oregon: Afer Iowa took the lead on a 12-play, 93-yard touchdown drive with 1:51 to play, the defending Big Ten champions executed their 2-minute drill to near perfection, capped by Atticus Sappington's game-winning 39-yard field goal at Kinnick Stadium. Three more wins for the Ducks and they'll be back in the playoff, but a loss to USC or Washington coming up could complicate matters.

9. Notre Dame: With Navy quarterback Blake Horvath unavailable as a late scratch, the Fighting Irish took advantage of the undermanned Midshipmen and raced their way to their seventh straight win. Given Notre Dame's No. 10 ranking in the selection committee's first poll and the likelihood this team finishes 10-2, the No. 9 seed feels right projecting out a few weeks from now.

10. Texas: Idle with an extra week to prepare for a season-defining showdown at Georgia, Texas has played itself back into the playoff mix with three straight SEC wins. We're projecting a split against the Bulldogs and the finale against Texas A&M, which should put the Longhorns in the playoff as a three-loss (last) team (in). A potential Texas at Texas Tech first-round game would feed families in the Lonestar State.

11. Georgia Tech (projected ACC champion): Wake Forest's upset win at Virginia leaves the ACC without a single unbeaten team in conference play exiting Week 11, which pushes Georgia Tech back to the ACC's projected champion slot ... for the time being. The Yellow Jackets still need to handle their business against Boston College and Pitt over the next few weeks to get to the league title game.

12. North Texas (projected Group of Five champion): One of six teams in contention for the auto-playoff bid within the Group of Five following Tulane's win over Memphis on Friday night, North Texas is now one of the frontrunners in the American. Keep an eye on James Madison and San Diego State as well as potential victors from the Sun Belt and Mountain West. No Group of Five team was ranked inside the selection committee's first poll.