With the top five teams in last week’s College Football Playoff Rankings all holding serve after emerging victorious last week, the third edition of the CFP top 25 released Tuesday night was largely uneventful. Reigning national champion Georgia held onto the No. 1 spot with fellow undefeateds Ohio State, Michigan and TCU rounding out what would be the four-team field should the playoff be decided today.
Tennessee, with its lone blemish coming to Georgia two weeks ago, remains the first team out at No. 5. The Volunteers will have a chance to make the playoff given the strength of their victories to this point along with having the best loss in the country. Reminder: All but one team ranked No. 1 in a season’s initial CFP Rankings ultimately reached the playoff (Mississippi State, 2014).
A debut in the CFP for the Vols is hardly a sure thing, however, as they will not have an opportunity to earn extra credit in the eyes of the CFP Selection Committee by winning a conference championship game. That possibility still exists for No. 6 LSU, which is seeking to become the first two-loss team to earn a CFP bid in the event’s history. No. 7 USC aims to become the first Pac-12 team to make the playoff since 2016-17, while No. 9 Clemson looks to get through the rest of the season unscathed; that will require it getting by fellow one-loss ACC brethren No. 13 North Carolina, which itself has a puncher’s chance at making the CFP.
Perhaps most notable was a change in ranking order for the top Group of Five programs aiming for a New Year’s Six berth. With a 38-31 head-to-head road victory over the weekend, UCF (now No. 20) jumped Tulane (now No. 21) to take pole position for that opportunity.
The biggest riser in the rankings was Washington, which jumped eight spots to No. 17 after taking down Oregon, which fell six spots down to No. 12.
Let’s take a look at the entire CFP Rankings top 25. Analysis by bowls expert Jerry Palm below.
College Football Playoff Rankings, Nov. 15
- Georgia (10-0)
- Ohio State (10-0)
- Michigan (10-0)
- TCU (10-0)
- Tennessee (9-1)
- LSU (8-2)
- USC (9-1)
- Alabama (8-2)
- Clemson (9-1)
- Utah (8-2)
- Penn State (8-2)
- Oregon (8-2)
- North Carolina (9-1)
- Ole Miss (8-2)
- Kansas State (7-3)
- UCLA (8-2)
- Washington (8-2)
- Notre Dame (7-3)
- Florida State (7-3)
- UCF (8-2)
- Tulane (8-2)
- Oklahoma State (7-3)
- Oregon State (7-3)
- NC State (7-3)
- Cincinnati (8-2)
Analysis by bowls expert Jerry Palm
The only change in the top 10 this…
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