Indiana, Texas A&M would be top-four CFP seeds based on AP Top 25; Tennessee, USF back on bracket

Indiana and Texas A&M would be top-four seeds in the College Football Playoff based on The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday and Tennessee and South Florida would be back on the mock bracket.

Ohio State and Miami remain the top two seeds as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the AP poll, with Indiana No. 3 and Texas A&M No. 4.

The Hoosiers' four-spot jump in the poll following their win at Oregon would give them a first-round bye as one of the top four seeds. Same with Texas A&M, which bumped Mississippi out of the No. 4 spot in the poll after the Rebels struggled to beat Washington State as a heavy favorite.

Oklahoma's loss to Texas, followed by its eight-spot drop in the poll to No. 14, caused the Sooners to fall off the bracket and be replaced by Tennessee. The Volunteers held on to beat Arkansas and moved up one spot in the poll to No. 11.

South Florida, which hammered North Texas 63-36 on Friday, returned to the bracket after a one-week absence. The Bulls jumped five spots to No. 19 in the poll to take the mandatory Group of Five spot away from Memphis, which was idle.

The Southeastern Conference would have six of the 12 teams on the mock bracket. The Big Ten would have three teams and the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and American would have one each.

Based on the AP Top 25, the CFP would open like this:

— No. 9 seed Georgia at No. 8 Oregon. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.

— No. 12 seed South Florida at No. 5 Mississippi. Winner vs. No. 4 Texas A&M.

— No. 10 seed LSU at No. 7 seed Texas Tech. Winner vs. No. 2 Miami.

— No. 11 seed Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama. Winner vs. No. 3 Indiana.

The first three teams outside the bracket: Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Oklahoma. The Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 12 by the AP but would get bumped by automatically qualifying conference champion South Florida of the American.

The five highest-ranked conference champions automatically qualify for the CFP, but no longer do the four highest-ranked champions receive a first-round bye. The 12-team bracket is now seeded directly based on the CFP’s final rankings on Dec. 7.

The top four seeds will be assigned to quarterfinals in ranking order and in consideration of current bowl relationships. This year, quarterfinal winners advance to the semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl. The No. 1 seed would receive preferential placement based on geography.

Teams ranked Nos. 5-12 by the CFP will play in the first round, with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded school. First-round games are Dec. 19 and 20, quarterfinals Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, semifinals Jan. 8 and 9 and the championship game is Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The AP will publish brackets based on the weekly Top 25 until the CFP selection committee unveils its initial rankings Nov. 4.

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