UNDATED (AP) — The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season will be unveiled Tuesday night, revealing the scope of the national championship race while also providing Exhibit A in the case for expanding the field. When the proposed 12-team format was made public in June, participation was touted as one of the the main reasons for expanding the field. The current four-team format is fine for crowning a deserving champion, but not only has it reduced interest in the rest of the non-playoff bowl games among fans, players and even coaches — it has narrowed the focus on the final month of the season to barely 10% of all major college football teams.

UNDATED (AP) — Bo Nix has turned around his _ and perhaps Auburn’s _ football season since watching from the sideline as his backup helped prevent an embarrassing upset. The Tigers’ once-struggling quarterback has turned in perhaps the best stretch of his career for the 12th-ranked Tigers since getting benched in that Georgia State game. Nix has completed 77% of his passes the past two games against Arkansas and No. 15 Mississippi for 568 yards with three touchdowns both passing and rushing.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Dan Mullen’s strange and subpar season took another twist when he canceled media access to players and coordinators for the remainder of the week. Mullen made the decision two days after a 34-7 drubbing to rival Georgia in nearby Jacksonville. It was the program’s seventh loss in its last nine games against Power Five opponents. Mullen seemed frustrated earlier Monday as he shot down a question about recruiting. He also lamented the narrative surrounding the program. He says “it’s six inches from a pat on the back and a kick in the rear.”

UNDATED (AP) — Never in the seven-year history of the College Football Playoff has the selection committee’s first top four teams exactly matched that of the AP Top 25 that directly preceded it. The latest Associated Press college football poll presented by Regions Bank makes it highly unlikely this year will be the first. Georgia remained No. 1 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday and looks like a lock to be first in the committee’s rankings Tuesday night. Cincinnati stayed at No. 2 in the media poll and AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo says the chances of the CFP rankings going in that direction are pretty much zero. The selection committee has never ranked a team from the Group of Five higher than No. 7 in any of its rankings.

UNDATED (AP) — Long kickoff returns came in bunches over the weekend. Four players ran back kicks 100 yards Saturday. That’s most in a single day since there were five maximum-distance returns Oct. 31, 2015. Two occurred in the same game. SMU’s Bryan Massey ran back the second-half kickoff against Houston and the Cougars’ Marcus Jones went all the way with 17 seconds left to produce his team’s 44-37 win. BYU’s Tyler Allgeier had 266 yards against Virginia for the top rushing performance. Caleb Williams’ six touchdown passes for Oklahoma against Texas Tech were most by a freshman since 2016.

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