Ohio St., Georgia, Michigan, Florida St. remain in CFP top 4،
Ohio State remained No. 1 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, revealed Tuesday night on ESPN, with the top eight teams unchanged from a week ago.
But the potential for movement exists in the upcoming rankings, with two top-10 matchups scheduled this weekend.
No. 2 Georgia hosts No. 9 Ole Miss, while No. 3 Michigan travels to take on No. 10 Penn State. The Bulldogs have an opportunity to make it two straight top-15 wins after beating No. 14 Missouri last week. For Michigan, this will be the first opportunity all season to face a ranked opponent, and it would help improve its resume — as the Wolverines have the No. 111 ranking strength, according to ESPN.
Florida State remained No. 4 despite an inconsistent performance against Pitt last weekend, while Washington remained No. 5 after a road win at USC. The Trojans fell out of the top 25 after the defeat. Oregon is just behind the Huskies, who handed the Ducks their only loss this season, followed by Texas in 7th place and Alabama in 8th.
“We responded well. We came back to practice the next week and took it personally,” Oregon quarterback Bo Nix said on ESPN’s rankings show, referring to the defeat against Washington. “The continued repetition we’ve had and the growth we’ve shown has put us in a good position.”
Although the Tide beat LSU 42-28 last weekend, the Tigers (6-3) remained in the top 25 as the highest-ranked three-loss team at 19th. Notre Dame, another three-loss team, also remained in the top 25 at No. 20 after a loss to Clemson.
“You want as many opinions as possible to emerge on what we think is the right answer,” CFP President Boo Corrigan said on the show. “We’re currently in week 10, and based on this week, we’re making what we think are the best decisions.”
Texas appears to be the Big 12’s only hope after Oklahoma’s loss to Oklahoma State. The Sooners fell to 17th, just behind the Cowboys and 16th-ranked Kansas. But Texas would need to win and get some help to have a chance at a top-four finish.
Tulane is the only ranked team in the Group of 5, at No. 23, behind No. 24 Air Force lost to Army on Saturday.
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, during his weekly press conference Tuesday, was asked about the rankings and how his program approaches going out each Tuesday night.
“I think there are so many guys on our team who have been through all this before, and they know it means absolutely nothing, and their goal is to win it all and be the No. 1 team at the championship. end of the year,” Day said. “We want to win them all, and that’s all that matters. In the end, they’ll rank us, but we’re just going to try to win them all, and that continues this Saturday.”
For the second time in as many weeks on the show, Corrigan was asked about the committee’s position on the Michigan sign-stealing investigation, and how — or if — it comes up in conversations.
“Not to be repetitive, [but] our mission as a committee is to judge which teams are eligible for the playoffs,” Corrigan said. “That’s not a matter of the CFP committee.”
Notable teams joining the top 25 this week include Arizona (6-3) at 21st, Iowa (7-2) at 22nd and North Carolina (7-2) at 24th. first appearance in the CFP rankings since 2017, have won three straight against teams ranked at the time they played.
Although Iowa once again struggled to score points, beating Northwestern 10-7 on Saturday, and already announced that offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz would not return after this season, the Hawkeyes simply continue to find ways to earn.
This is the fifth time in the last six seasons that Iowa has been ranked by the CFP committee.
