Penn State remained at No. 4 for the third straight week Tuesday night in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
The Nittany Lions (10-1) were projected as the sixth seed in the 12-team playoff and would play 11th-seeded Indiana (10-1) in the first round Dec. 20 or 21 at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State finishes its regular season against Maryland (4-7) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (TV-BTN) in State College.
In the initial CFP rankings, Penn State was seeded seventh and projected to face Notre Dame in the first round. The Lions moved up to the sixth seed two weeks ago and were projected to play Ole Miss. Last week, they were the sixth seed and were projected to play Georgia.
The rankings were shuffled after Alabama and Mississippi suffered upset losses last weekend.
Coming off a 26-25 win at Minnesota, Penn State again was ranked behind No. 1 Oregon (11-0), No. 2 Ohio State (10-1) and No. 3 Texas (10-1).
Notre Dame (10-1) moved up a spot to fifth, followed by Miami (10-1), Georgia (9-2), Tennessee (9-2), SMU (10-1) and Indiana (10-1).
As one of the four highest-ranked conference champions, 11th-ranked Boise State (10-1) of the Mountain West would be one of the top four seeded teams and draw a first-round bye with Oregon, Texas and Miami.
Clemson (9-2) was ranked 12th, followed by Alabama (8-3), Mississippi (8-3), South Carolina (8-3) and Arizona State (9-2).
Tulane (9-2) was 17th, followed by Iowa State (9-2), BYU (9-2), Missouri (8-3), UNLV (9-2), Illinois (8-3), Kansas State (8-3) and Colorado (8-3) at No. 25.
The first-round projections have 12th-seeded Arizona State at No. 5 Ohio State, No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Georgia, No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Notre Dame and Indiana at Penn State.
Arizona State is projected to make the playoff field as the Big 12 champion. That means, for now, Clemson and Alabama are out.
In the quarterfinals Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, No. 1 Oregon would play the Tennessee-Georgia winner; No. 2 Texas would play the Notre Dame-SMU winner; No. 3 Miami would play the Indiana-Penn State winner; and No. 4 Boise State would play the Arizona State-Ohio State winner.
The final rankings will be announced Dec. 8, along with the pairings.
The quarterfinals are scheduled for Dec. 31 (Fiesta Bowl) and Jan. 1 (Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls). The semifinals are set for Jan. 9 (Orange Bowl) and Jan. 10 (Cotton Bowl).
The CFP national championship game is scheduled for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
