BY ERIC OLSON
Georgia, LSU and Memphis are in and Penn State, Texas and South Florida are out of the College Football Playoff mock bracket based on The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday.
The top four seeds remain the same but in a different order. Ohio State is still No. 1, No. 2 Miami and No. 3 Oregon flip-flopped and are followed by No. 4 Mississippi. The top four receive first-round byes.
Georgia beat Kentucky soundly to move from No. 12 to No. 10 in the AP poll and returned to the projected 12-team field after a one-week absence. LSU, which had been a top-four seed as recently as two weeks ago, was idle Saturday and back by virtue of its move from No. 13 to No. 11 in the poll.
Memphis is the nation’s first 6-0 team after beating Tulsa and is on the bracket for the first time. The Tigers made their season debut in the poll at No. 23 and would edge fellow American Conference rival and 24th-ranked South Florida for the mandatory Group of Five spot.
The return of Georgia and LSU would give the Southeastern Conference six of the 12 teams in the mock bracket. The Big Ten would have three teams in 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 Texas Tech at No. 8 Alabama. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.
— No. 12 seed Memphis at No. 5 Texas A&M. Winner vs. No. 4 Mississippi.
— No. 10 seed Georgia at No. 7 seed Indiana. Winner vs. No. 2 Miami.
— No. 11 seed LSU at No. 6 Oklahoma. Winner vs. No. 3 Oregon.
The first three teams outside the bracket: Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Missouri. The Volunteers are ranked No. 12 by the AP but would get bumped by automatically qualifying conference champion Memphis 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.
