The second College Football Playoff rankings of the season feature no surprise at the top, with Clemson still up there after adding a respectable win against previous and current No. 16 Florida State. Ohio State’s still in the top four after another nondescript W.
College Football Playoff rankings: Notre Dame, Iowa move up in top 5
Two teams with losses are in the Playoff committee’s new field of four. Full top 25 below!
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The three spots that will deliver 168 hours of shouting on this webpage and other platforms are those belonging to Alabama and Notre Dame, which have lost games, and Iowa, which does not score tons of points. This means that if the Playoff were to begin right now, the undefeated Baylor, Houston and Oklahoma State would be left behind likewise undefeated Iowa.
Fortunately, the season doesn’t end right now. Baylor and OSU will get to prove themselves against each other, and so forth. Iowa looks likely to get its crack at the Buckeyes or whoever else wins the Big Ten East. UH doesn’t have much of a shot at the Playoff, but several of its toughest games await as well.
As for why Bama and ND are ahead of those Big 12 teams, consider this: Bama’s beaten six teams with winning records (committee longhand for “quality opponent”) and Notre Dame has four, but Baylor and OSU have a combined two. That’s why Iowa’s so high, too; the Hawkeyes have four of their own.
The new top 25:
| Playoff committee ranking | S&P+ ranking | Best win, per S&P+ | Worst loss, per S&P+ | If the season ended today | |
| 1 | Clemson (9-0) | 1 | Notre Dame | Orange Bowl vs. Notre Dame | |
| 2 | Alabama (8-1) | 2 | LSU | Ole Miss | Cotton Bowl vs. Ohio State |
| 3 | Ohio State (8-0) | 4 | Penn State | Cotton Bowl vs. Alabama | |
| 4 | Notre Dame (8-1) | 6 | USC | at Clemson | Orange Bowl vs. Clemson |
| 5 | Iowa (9-0) | 20 | at Wisconsin | Rose Bowl vs. Stanford | |
| 6 | Baylor (8-0) | 7 | West Virginia | Sugar Bowl vs. SEC | |
| 7 | Stanford (8-1) | 14 | at USC | at Northwestern | Rose Bowl vs. Iowa |
| 8 | Oklahoma State (9-0) | 16 | TCU | Fiesta or Peach | |
| 9 | LSU (7-1) | 8 | Florida | at Alabama | New Year's bowl, perhaps Sugar |
| 10 | Utah (8-1) | 24 | Michigan | at USC | Fiesta or Peach |
| 11 | Florida (8-1) | 9 | Ole Miss | at LSU | New Year's bowl, perhaps Sugar |
| 12 | Oklahoma (8-1) | 5 | West Virginia | Texas | |
| 13 | Michigan State (8-1) | 29 | at Michigan | at Nebraska | |
| 14 | Michigan (7-2) | 3 | BYU | Michigan State | |
| 15 | TCU (8-1) | 13 | West Virginia | at Oklahoma State | |
| 16 | Florida State (7-2) | 11 | Louisville | at Georgia Tech | |
| 17 | Mississippi State (7-2) | 22 | Louisiana Tech | at Texas A&M | |
| 18 | Northwestern (7-2) | 40 | Stanford | Iowa | |
| 19 | UCLA (7-2) | 19 | BYU | Arizona State | |
| 20 | Navy (7-1) | 17 | at Memphis | at Notre Dame | Fiesta or Peach |
| 21 | Memphis (8-1) | 39 | Ole Miss | Navy | |
| 22 | Temple (8-1) | 37 | Penn State | Notre Dame | |
| 23 | North Carolina (8-1) | 32 | Duke | vs. South Carolina | |
| 24 | Houston (9-0) | 35 | at Louisville | ||
| 25 | Wisconsin (9-2) | 26 | at Illinois | Iowa |
For what it’s worth (A LOT), the SB Nation Selection Committee convened earlier and produced the same top four:
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