College Football Playoff 2024 - Week 11 bubble watch - ESPN

In the new era of a 12-team College Football Playoff, the 13-member selection committee on Tuesday night showed that dominant play can help overcome a weak schedule (hello, Indiana) and that two-loss Alabama is still in contention — albeit with very little margin for error.

Ohio State's statement win at Penn State on Saturday catapulted the Buckeyes to No. 2 behind Oregon, a team it could meet again in the Big Ten title game — unless the Hoosiers have something to say about it.

Below are the top five lessons learned from the first ranking, followed by eight teams outside the top 12 that could play their way in, and how the Group of 5 race stacks up.

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What we learned
Byes | First-round matchups
Last two in | First four out
Next four out | Group of 5

1. The SEC and Big Ten own the bulk of the bracket

The SEC and Big Ten have established themselves as the biggest and wealthiest conferences in the country, and the first CFP ranking reaffirmed they are also the deepest when it comes to playoff contenders. With four Big Ten teams (Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana) and four SEC teams (Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama), those leagues combined for eight of the top 12 spots. Ohio State and Indiana still have to play each other, as do Georgia and Tennessee, but they will also be losing to a top-10 team. That will help them on Selection Day.

2. Two-loss Alabama spells trouble for the ACC and Big 12's second-best teams

The fact that Alabama is ranked ahead of Iowa State, Kansas State and Colorado is not a good sign for the loser of the Big 12 championship game. Two-loss Texas A&M and LSU also are ranked ahead of the Big 12's second-tier teams, which indicates the Big 12's champion is trending to be its