Projecting the College Football Playoff top 25 after Week 13 - ESPN

The arguments about a three-loss SEC team in the 12-team College Football Playoff began even before the scenario presented itself.

Now it's here.

The 13-member selection committee will have arguably its most difficult ranking of the season this week, when it has to determine how far to drop three-loss Alabama following its convincing loss to unranked Oklahoma.

(And you thought Indiana losing to Ohio State was going to be the story of the day.)

Here's a look at the weekly prediction of what the top 25 might look like in the committee's fourth set of rankings on Tuesday. Remember, this is NOT a projection of what it will look like on Selection Day. Rather, it's a snapshot of who's in the driver's seat now, based on what the teams have done to this point and how the committee has already evaluated them.

The 12-team playoff seeding will look different from this ranking as well. The top four highest-ranked conference champions receive byes, and the top five conference champions receive entry into the field.

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Ranking | Bracket

Why they could be here: The Ducks have four Big Ten road wins, three wins against CFP Top 25 teams, and should remain the committee's No. 1 team coming off an off week. The Ducks' head-to-head win against Ohio State looks even better after the Buckeyes beat Indiana. The committee will also continue to reward Oregon's wins against No. 12 Boise State and No. 25 Illinois, which eked out a win against Rutgers.

Path to the playoff: Oregon has already clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game, and as long as the Ducks beat Washington on Saturday, they will earn either a first-round bye as the conference champion or a first-round home game as the Big Ten runner-up. Even if Oregon were to lose to