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College Football Playoff Rankings: Live Reaction to Top 25 Following Week 14

How will an eventful weekend in the ACC and SEC shake up the committee's penultimate rankings?
Bryan Fischer, Pat Forde|
Mississippi Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has thrown for 3,016 yards with 24 total touchdowns this season.
Mississippi Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has thrown for 3,016 yards with 24 total touchdowns this season. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

A loaded Thanksgiving weekend saw most of the teams in contention for College Football Playoff bids hold serve. The two primary exceptions came in the SEC and ACC.

Off the field, Lane Kiffin's drawn-out saga culminated with him ultimately leaving Ole Miss for LSU, despite the Rebels finishing the regular season 11–1 and all but certain to make the playoff field. How the committee views Ole Miss in light of Kiffin's departure will be the biggest storyline to track during Tuesday's unveiling.

As far as the actual games went, the SEC saw previously unbeaten Texas A&M get bitten by longtime rival Texas, knocking the Aggies out of the conference title game and paving the way for a Georgia-Alabama rematch. The win led to immediate politicking from Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, who believes his 9–3 squad deserves inclusion in the 12-team field.

In the ACC, Cal's upset win over SMU allowed 7–5 Duke—one of five ACC teams to go 6–2 in conference games—to backdoor its way into the title game against Virginia. A win for the Cavaliers all but assures Virginia will make the field. But, should the Blue Devils pull off an upset, it could mean two Group of Five champions qualify for the CFP.

Watch along as SI’s Bryan Fischer and Pat Forde provide live reactions and analysis ahead of a busy rivalry week.

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Bryan Fischer
BRYAN FISCHER

Bryan Fischer is a staff writer at Sports Illustrated covering college sports. He joined the SI staff in October 2024 after spending nearly two decades at outlets such as FOX Sports, NBC Sports and CBS Sports. A member of the Football Writers Association of America's All-America Selection Committee and a Heisman Trophy voter, Fischer has received awards for investigative journalism from the Associated Press Sports Editors and FWAA. He has a bachelor's in communication from USC.

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Pat Forde
PAT FORDE

Pat Forde is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who covers college football and college basketball as well as the Olympics and horse racing. He cohosts the College Football Enquirer podcast and is a football analyst on the Big Ten Network. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Forde has won 28 Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest awards, has been published three times in the Best American Sports Writing book series, and was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. A past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and member of the Football Writers Association of America, he lives in Louisville with his wife. They have three children, all of whom were collegiate swimmers.

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