Andrea AdelsonESPN Senior Writer4 minutes of reading
The top 6 rankings remain the same in this week’s CFP rankings
Ohio State and Georgia are still in the top 6 of this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
But there is potential for movement in the next rankings, with two top 10 matches set for this weekend.
No. 2 Georgia has No. 9 Ole Miss, while No. 3 Michigan travels to play No. 10 Penn State. After beating No. 14 Missouri last week, the Bulldogs have a chance to make it two top 15 wins in a row. For Michigan, it will be its first chance to play a ranked opponent all season, and it will help boost its resume — the Wolverines have the 111th ranked strength according to ESPN.
Florida State remains at No. 4 despite an inconsistent performance against Pitt last weekend, while Washington remains No. 5 after a road win at USC. The Trojans fell out of the top 25 after the loss. Oregon is right behind the Huskies, who have handed the Ducks their only loss this season, followed by Texas at No. 7 and Alabama at No. 8.
“We responded well. We showed up again the next week in practice and we took it personally,” Oregon quarterback Bo Nix said of the loss to Washington on ESPN’s rankings release show. “We’ve continued to iterate and the growth we’ve shown has put us in a good place.”
Despite the Tide beating LSU 42-28 last weekend, the Tigers (6-3) remain the top three-loss team in the Top 25 at No. 19. Notre Dame, another three-loss team, also lost to Clemson at No. 20 in the top 25.
“You want as many opinions as you can on what we think is the right answer,” CFP President Boo Corrigan said on the show. “We’re in Week 10 now, and based on Week 10, we’re making what we think are great results.”
Texas appears to be the only hope for the Big 12 after Oklahoma’s loss to Oklahoma State. The Sooners dropped to No. 17, behind the Cowboys and No. 16 Kansas. But Texas needs to win and get some help to finish in the top 4.
Tulane is the only No. 5 ranked team, at No. 23, followed by then-No. 24 Air Force lost to Army on Saturday.
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was asked during his weekly news conference Tuesday about the rankings and how his program approaches each Tuesday night release.
“I think you have a lot of guys on our team who have been through this all before and they know it’s absolutely nothing, and their goal is to win the whole thing and be the No. 1 team at the end of the year,” Day said. “We want to beat everybody, that’s the important thing. In the end, they’ll rank us, but we’re going to try to beat everybody and that will continue this Saturday.”
For the second time in as many weeks on the show, Corrigan was asked about how — or if — the group’s stance on Michigan’s identity theft investigation and conversations.
“Not to be, (but) our job, as a group, is to determine the teams that qualify for the postseason,” Corrigan said. “This is not a CFP board issue.”
Notable teams tied for the top 25 this week — Arizona (6-3) No. 21, Iowa (7-2) no. 22 and North Carolina (7-2) No. 24. The Wildcats. First CFP ranked appearance since 2017, winning three straight against teams that were ranked at the time they played.
Although Iowa struggled to get points back in Saturday’s 10-7 win over Northwestern and offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz has already announced he won’t be returning after the season, the Hawkeyes continue to find ways to win.
This is the fifth time Iowa has been ranked by the CFP Committee in the past six seasons.
