BY ERIC OLSON
James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference would represent the Group of Five in the College Football Playoff on a bracket based on The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday, and Georgia Tech and Texas would be among the 12 teams again.
The CFP committee will release its second rankings of the season Tuesday night.
James Madison, at No. 24, is the highest-ranked G5 team in the AP poll. Memphis, which had been the highest-ranked G5 team last week, lost at home to Tulane on Friday and dropped off the bracket.
The Dukes won at Marshall and are 8-1, with their only loss by two touchdowns two months ago to a now-ranked Louisville. They have their first AP ranking since 2023.
Georgia Tech was idle and returned to the bracket as the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team following Virginia’s home loss to Wake Forest. Texas moved up to No. 10 in the AP poll after BYU and Virginia lost.
The top four seeds on the mock bracket did not change.
The Southeastern Conference has five of the 12 teams on the mock bracket. The Big Ten has three teams, the Big 12 one, and the Atlantic Coast Conference and Sun Belt one each. Notre Dame would be in as an independent.
Based on the AP Top 25, the CFP would open like this, with the top four seeds receiving first-round byes:
— No. 9 seed Notre Dame at No. 8 seed Texas Tech. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.
— No. 12 seed James Madison at No. 5 Georgia. Winner vs. No. 4 Alabama.
— No. 10 seed Texas at No. 7 Oregon. Winner vs. No. 2 Indiana.
— No. 11 seed Georgia Tech at No. 6 Mississippi. Winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M.
The first three teams outside the bracket: Oklahoma, BYU and Vanderbilt.
Oklahoma is ranked No. 11 by the AP but would get bumped by automatically qualifying conference champion Georgia Tech of the ACC. BYU is No. 12 in the AP poll but would be on the outside looking in to make room for G5 representative James Madison.
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.
