Ole Miss would visit LSU in a tantalizing first-round College Football Playoff game based on the first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 poll Tuesday.
Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas would be the top four seeds and Indiana, Oregon, Miami and LSU would host first-round games.
The five highest-ranked conference champions — from the Power Four and one from the Group of Six — will qualify for the CFP. The other seven spots will be filled by the next highest-ranked teams. One of those at-large teams will be Notre Dame if the Fighting Irish are among the top 12 in the CFP’s final rankings.
Kiffin bolted Mississippi to take over at LSU last December and college football hasn’t been the same since, with Kiffin front and center in the legal battles over players attempting to come back to play in college after having been in NFL training camps. Kiffin will take his Tigers to Oxford, Mississippi, for what could be a top-10 showdown on Sept. 19. A playoff meeting would command another huge spotlight.
First-round games are Dec. 18 and 19, quarterfinals Dec. 30 and Jan. 1, semifinals Jan. 14 and 15 and the championship game is Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Based on the AP rankings, the CFP would open like this:
- 9 seed Ole Miss at No. 8 LSU. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.
- 12 seed Boise State at No. 5 Indiana. Winner vs. No. 4 Texas.
- 10 seed Texas A&M at No. 7 Miami. Winner vs. No. 2 Georgia.
- 11 seed Texas Tech at No. 6 Oregon. Winner vs. No. 3 Notre Dame.
The first three teams outside the bracket: Oklahoma, Alabama and USC.
The Sooners are ranked No. 11 by the AP but would get bumped by Texas Tech and Boise State. Texas Tech, at No. 13 in the AP poll, is the highest-ranked Big 12 team. Boise State of the revamped Pac-12 would be the automatically qualifying Group of Six champion. Boise State is not in the AP Top 25 but is the Group of Six team that received the most votes.
The AP will publish brackets based on the weekly Top 25 until the CFP selection committee unveils its initial rankings Nov. 3.
