Oregon and Mississippi would be top-four seeds in College Football Playoff on AP poll-based bracket

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Oregon and Mississippi would earn top-four seeds and receive first-round byes in the College Football Playoff if the bracket were based on The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday.

Ohio State would remain No. 1 and be followed by No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Miami and No. 4 Mississippi.

Ole Miss and Indiana are on the mock bracket for the first time this season. The Rebels beat LSU and moved up nine spots in the AP poll to No. 4. Indiana held off Iowa and jumped three spots to No. 8 in the poll. Alabama's win over Georgia also put the Crimson Tide on the bracket for the first time since the preseason poll.

LSU, Georgia and Florida State, which lost to Virginia on Friday, dropped off.

The addition of Mississippi and Alabama would give the Southeastern Conference five teams in the 12-team CFP. The Big Ten would have four teams in the field and the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and American one each. South Florida would be in as the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion based on having the most points of any unranked G5 team.

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

— No. 9 seed Texas at No. 8 seed Indiana. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.

— No. 12 seed South Florida at No. 5 seed Oklahoma. Winner vs. No. 4 Mississippi.

— No. 10 seed Alabama at No. 7 seed Penn State. Winner vs. No. 2 Oregon.

— No. 11 seed Texas Tech at No. 6 Texas A&M. Winner vs. No. 3 Miami.

The first three teams outside the bracket: Georgia, LSU and Iowa State.

The Bulldogs 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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