By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

A season full of surprises didn’t yield much on Tuesday when the first set of seedings in the lead-up to college football’s new 12-team playoff came out.

Undefeated Oregon received top billing. The selection committee liked Ohio State slightly more than Georgia in the top 25; This is the first of six weekly surveys by the 13-member selection committee.

Other than that, the panel’s top 12 looked exactly the same as the top dozen in the latest AP poll, which has been rocked nearly every week by a series of upsets that have left the all-conference powerhouse SEC without a single undefeated team.

The committee saw what most of the country saw this year: With a 9-0 record, five wins in the Big Ten by three or more goals and a key victory over Ohio State, Coach Dan Lanning’s Ducks were the best in the league. country.

As the march towards the Dec. 8 rankings, which will be used to place teams into a group, begins, Ohio State, Georgia and Miami are ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively. Alabama was ranked No. 11 — the only two-loss team to crack the top 12 in a poll that mirrored the AP’s final poll at every point except Nos. 2 and 3, where the Buckeyes and Bulldogs fell flat.

“We’re splitting our hair to look at two great teams,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, who served as selection committee chairman, said of Ohio State’s one-point loss to Oregon and Georgia’s seven-point loss to Oregon. Tide. The Bulldogs lost 41-34 at Alabama after trailing by 28 points in the first half and had closer-than-expected wins over Kentucky, Mississippi State and Florida. Georgia defeated Texas 30-15 on the road on October 19. At the time, the Longhorns were ranked No. 1 in the AP poll.

Rankings are not directly related to where teams will fall in the rankings. The four top-seeded conference champions will be knocked out in the first round, and in that order are No. 1 Oregon (Big Ten), No. 3 Georgia (SEC), No. 4 Miami (ACC) and No. 9 BYU. (Big 12).

Other teams in the fictional first-week bracket and their rankings: No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Indiana and No. 10 Notre Dame.

Boise State was seeded 12th, which would equal its ranking as Mountain West Conference champions.

“Boise State is an impressive team,” Manuel said.

The committee placed Alabama at No. 11 against several one-loss teams, but the Tide’s strong schedule clearly helped them get over teams like No. 13 SMU, No. 17 Iowa State and No. 18 Pitt, which play in weaker divisions. conferences.

The first-round games on the better team’s home field on Dec. 20-21 will look like this: Boise State at Ohio State, Alabama at Texas, Notre Dame at Penn State and Indiana at Tennessee.

The four quarterfinals will be staged on December 31 and January 1 at the Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Arizona), Peach Bowl (Atlanta), Rose Bowl (Pasadena) and Sugar Bowl (New Orleans). It will be played on January 9 and 10 at the Orange Bowl (Miami) and Cotton Bowl (Arlington, Texas); The national championship game will be held on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The SEC and Big Ten each had four teams in the top 12. Unbeaten BYU is the only Big 12 program in the top 12, and unbeaten Miami is the only ACC team in the top 12 after Clemson’s second loss to Louisville last week. at home.

Indiana, which is 9-0 for the first time in program history after beating Michigan State 47-10 last week, is one spot ahead of BYU. The Hoosiers have yet to beat a ranked opponent and have played the 103rd ranked schedule to this point. They host national champion Michigan on Saturday and play at Ohio State on Nov. 23.

The Cougars are 8-0 heading into Saturday’s game against rival Utah. They won 18-15 at SMU and defeated Kansas State 38-9 at home.