The biggest difference with the introduction of the 12-team College Football Playoff this season -- aside from the bigger bracket -- is the guaranteed inclusion of the five highest-ranked conference champions. Which means Michigan isn't out because it lost to Texas. And USC isn't out because it lost to Michigan. And LSU isn't out because it lost to USC.
"We're obviously very disappointed," USC coach Lincoln Riley said after the loss in Ann Arbor, "but [we] know this season -- there's a lot left in it."
Which is why teams such as Indiana and Illinois are in the mix -- at least until they're not.
Below is a snapshot of what the College Football Playoff bracket might look like today -- through four weeks of data. This is not a ranking. This is what the seeding and bracket would look like based on the committee's projected top 12 for this week, plus eight teams on the bubble and a look at how the Group of 5 race stacks up after Northern Illinois and Memphis lost.
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Group of 5
