Georgia remained No. 1 and Michigan, Washington, and Florida State moved up to the second through fourth spots in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s penultimate rankings on Tuesday night.
Michigan, last week’s No. 3 team, defeated then-No. 2 Ohio State 30–24 in their annual rivalry game last Saturday. The Buckeyes dropped four spots to No. 6, now beneath No. 5 Oregon.
After conference championship games conclude this Saturday, the committee will gather on Sunday to determine the four playoff teams and their semifinal matchups.
One crucial game is Friday’s Pac-12 championship game, a rematch between Washington and Oregon. The Huskies won 36–33 at home in the teams’ regular-season meeting, the only loss on the Ducks’ record. Heisman Trophy favorite Bo Nix and the Ducks will try to avenge that loss on a neutral field in Las Vegas.
Texas and Alabama remained at Nos. 7 and 8 and have an outside chance of breaking into the field of four this weekend. Texas faces No. 18 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship game, and Alabama takes on Georgia for the SEC title once again.
The Ducks have been the top one-loss team in the committee’s ranking for weeks, and committee chair Boo Corrigan was asked on ESPN why they are ranked two spots ahead of Texas, even as Texas defeated Texas Tech by 50 points and the Ducks beat the same opponent by eight.
“Oregon has continued to dominate ... coming out of last week and the way they played an Oregon State team that we really respect as a group, held them to seven points as opposed to 34 that they’ve averaged on the year,” said Corrigan, the athletic director at NC State. “The season that Bo Nix is having, 78 percent completion percentage. They just continue to impress the committee with the offense and the defense.”
Last week, Florida State slipped one spot behind Washington, which Corrigan said had everything to do with the Huskies as opposed to the Seminoles losing star quarterback Jordan Travis for the season with a leg injury.
But Tuesday, Corrigan admitted they aren’t the Seminoles with Tate Rodemaker behind center instead of Travis. Florida State faces No. 14 Louisville, which dropped four spots this week after a 38–31 loss to Kentucky, in Saturday’s ACC championship game.
“Different team, right? Different team without Jordan Travis,” Corrigan said. “Tate Rodemaker ... has done well and has kind of managed the game.”
The full rankings are as follows:
1. Georgia (12–0) 2. Michigan (12–0) 3. Washington (12–0) 4. Florida State (12–0) 5. Oregon (11–1) 6. Ohio State (11–1) 7. Texas (11–1) 8. Alabama (11–1) 9. Missouri (10–2) 10. Penn State (10–2) 11. Ole Miss (10–2) 12. Oklahoma (10–2) 13. LSU (9–3) 14. Louisville (10–2) 15. Arizona (9–3) 16. Iowa (10–2) 17. Notre Dame (9–3) 18. Oklahoma State (9–3) 19. NC State (9–3) 20. Oregon State (8–4) 21. Tennessee (8-4) 22. Tulane (11–1) 23. Clemson (8–4) 24. Liberty (12–0) 25. Kansas State (8–4)
