College Football Playoff bracket: What 12-team field looks like after third CFP Rankings release

There's a new team in the top four of the College Football Playoff Rankings. After a big win against Texas in Week 12, Georgia joined the list of projected first-round byes at No. 4 in Tuesday night's CFP bracket. 

The Bulldogs are still behind No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana and No. 3 Texas A&M as the top three remains unchanged after three weeks. Georgia benefitted from Alabama's loss to Oklahoma, which vaulted three spots to No. 8 -- firmly in the field as an at-large -- after downing the Crimson Tide. 

Alabama, meanwhile, dropped all the way to No. 10, putting the Tide firmly on the bubble as the 2025 regular season winds down. The rest of the 12-team bracket remains largely unchanged, with one major exception: Tulane now makes the cut as a Group of Six representative. 

Fresh off of a 35-24 win against Florida Atlantic that saw them improve to 5-1 in conference play, the Green Wave landed at No. 24 in the rankings. 

This bracket is a projection heading into Week 13. Here is a look at how the College Football Playoff bracket looks after the third CFP Rankings release. 

Alabama plummets 

Alabama's fall is something to keep an eye on. The Crimson Tide are currently situated as the last at-large in the field, a stark difference from the Week 12 rankings that saw them snag a projected first-round bye. Their early season loss to Florida State likely plays a big role in this. 

It's easily the worst loss among at-large teams, since the Seminoles are 2-5 in a relatively weak ACC. Losing at home as the favorite against Oklahoma also hurts Alabama. The Crimson Tide still have the inside track to the SEC Championship Game, but they're going to have to be flawless to close the regular season. 

It will also be interesting to see how the selection committee treats a potential SEC Championship Game loss, especially with a one-loss team like BYU and a glut of two-loss power conference teams right behind the Crimson Tide. SMU, Penn State and Texas were able to make it in last season after losses in their respective championship games, so there is some precedent on Alabama's side.  

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Keep an eye on Utah 

The selection committee seems to hold Utah in high regard. The Utes are hanging around as the second team out, right behind in-state rival BYU.  

Utah doesn't have a realistic path to the Big 12 Championship Game -- though it hasn't been entirely eliminated from contention -- thanks to losses against conference frontrunners BYU and Texas Tech. But it does have an easy close to the regular season. 

The Utes have to get past Kansas and Kansas State, who boast a combined conference record of 7-7. If they can do that, and if a couple other projected at-large teams stumble over the next couple of weeks, then they could find their way into the final 12-team field. 

Confidence in the American Conference 

This is the third week in a row that an American Conference team has ranked first among Group of Six programs, as Tulane follows in the footsteps of Memphis and South Florida. It's becoming quite apparent that, barring some unforeseen meltdown, the selection committee will give an advantage to the winner of the American Conference Championship Game over any equivalent competitors. 

That's bad news for a team like James Madison, which has a better record than Tulane at 9-1 -- with its only loss coming on the road against Louisville -- and remains undefeated against Sun Belt opponents.