Playoff Projection: TCU enters championship week at No. 4

Mississippi State's loss Saturday is creating an opening for a new team to move into the College Football Playoff field, and the Football Four Playoff Projection committee projects that team to be TCU.

The Horned Frogs moved from No. 5 to No. 4 in this week's projection, with the Alabama, Oregon and Florida State voted into the top three.

Alabama's total of 72 voting points is a season-high for the Crimson Tide, while Oregon held firm since last week with 65 points. Panelist and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross called the Crimson Tide, "Likely the team to beat in mid-January in Arlington."

The Playoff selection committee's most-watched decision Tuesday night when it reveals its sixth and penultimate Top 25 rankings (7 p.m., ESPN) will be the one involving TCU, Ohio State and Baylor. That decision is complicated by the fact that the team the Football Four and Playoff selection committee ranks highest lost to Baylor, and more recently the fact that the quarterback who led Ohio State to an 11-1 regular season is injured and won't play again until spring practice.

"If Buckeye fans need a silver lining," said panelist Nicole Auerbach, "it is this: Though we don't know how the real selection committee will view J.T. Barrett's injury and unavailability for the Playoff, we do know that Ohio State will get one game to prove it's still good enough to be there without him.

"That's a lot of pressure on former third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, but getting a shot to prove your worth is certainly better than nothing."

In addition to Ross and Auerbach, the Football Four Playoff Projection panel includes former FBS coaches Rich Brooks, Tommy Bowden, Jim Grobe and Rick Neuheisel, former FBS athletic directors Bill Byrne and Jim Livengood and Paste BN Sports college sports staff members Joe Fleming, Paul Myerberg, George Schroeder, Daniel Uthman and Dan Wolken.

The panel is modeled after the College Football Playoff selection committee to show what the Playoff pairings might be if they were to be set today. Each panelist enters a six-team ballot, with six points awarded for a No. 1 vote, five for a No. 2 and so on. The projection is purely a mock selection with no bearing on the Playoff selection committee's decisions.

Last week the Football Four panel and Playoff selection committee's top four, in order, were identical.