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College Football Playoff: Predicting the fifth set of rankings

After years in the making, we'll see yet another glimpse of the College Football Playoff selection committee in action Tuesday night, when it releases its fifth set of top 25 rankings.



Fresh off a thrilling Week 13 and a number of upsets, here are a few guesses as to who will make the committee's top four and who will be left wondering what they have to do to move up. Keep in mind, this is a look at the playoff picture right now and not a projection of wins and losses the rest of the season.

No. 1 seed: Alabama

No. 2 seed: Oregon

No. 3 seed: Florida State

No. 4 seed: Mississippi State



In the hunt

» TCU: It seems like forever ago that the Horned Frogs were struggling against Kansas, a narrow win that looks even more puzzling when you consider what Oklahoma did to the Jayhawks on Saturday. Is it possible the committee moves Baylor ahead of TCU like the AP Poll did? Certainly, although the team is still very much in the running for one of the four spots.

» Baylor: "Game control" was the big phrase being uttered around college football last week, and the Bears had plenty of it in their win over Oklahoma State. Sure, it wasn't pretty at times in the rain, but they moved past the Cowboys with ease and might be in position to finally jump TCU.

» Ohio State: The Buckeyes ended up with a big win over Indiana, but they got off to a slow start. At least their case was helped by Minnesota beating Nebraska and staying in the top 25 once again.

» UCLA: Fresh off a beatdown of their crosstown rivals, the Bruins will emerge Tuesday night as the top-ranked two-loss team in the committee's rankings. That means they still have a good chance at making the playoff if they can win out, which would include wins over Stanford and Oregon the next two weeks.

You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.