How Week 13 changed the College Football Playoff rankings picture
The Sooners were the single biggest winner, Stanford is now the top contender most in need of carnage elsewhere, and the New Year’s races are sorting themselves out, too.
- No. 2 Alabama (11-1) beat Auburn (6-6), 29-13: Yes, Auburn’s still .500, so this counts as a noteworthy win by committee math. SEC Championship against Florida is booked. A couple of Bama’s victims might re-enter the rankings.
- No. 3 Oklahoma (11-1) beat No. 11 Oklahoma State (10-2), 58-23: Hey, remember when the Big 12 was screwed because it didn’t have a conference title game? Remember how the Big 12 either had to expand or it’d never have a Playoff team? OU was the first team to clinch a Playoff spot this year. Life’s funny.
- No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) beat Penn State (7-5), 55-16: The Big Ten Championship is a Playoff play-in game between MSU and Iowa. Would not be surprised if the Spartans rank ahead, due to schedule (MSU has eight wins against .500-plus teams to Iowa’s four, and three ranked wins to perhaps one).
- No. 9 Stanford (10-2) beat No. 6 Notre Dame (10-2), 38-36: The debate about what to do about the independent is over, and now we wait to see whether the Pac-12 is the odd conference out. The Cardinal will get USC next week, which might or might not count as a ranked win.
- No. 19 TCU (10-2) beat No. 7 Baylor (9-2), 28-21 (2 OT): A rain-drenched slog of a hatebrawl, and the Bears’ loss meant Bedlam was the Big 12 championship. This result also means both these teams will stay ranked around the top 15, helping Oklahoma’s committee strength of schedule numbers.
- No. 8 Ohio State (11-1) beat No. 10 Michigan (9-3), 42-13: The Buckeyes clinch a New Year’s bowl with a bounceback flattening of their archrivals, but fall short of the Big Ten East crown. Some hope remains that the Buckeyes could sneak in as a second Big Ten team, but I don’t believe it.
- No. 13 Florida State (10-2) beat No. 12 Florida (10-2), 27-2: The Gators might be in the process of losing their Sugar Bowl spot, and the Noles gave themselves an excellent Peach Bowl case.
- No. 14 North Carolina (11-1) beat NC State (7-5), 45-34: Don’t think UNC’s still in it? Five teams ahead of UNC just lost. Add this road win over a decent Wolfpack and an FSU win over the Gators boosting the ACC’s whole situation. If UNC’s No. 9 and beats No. 1 to get a conference title boost, you don’t think that’s enough to reach No. 4?
- No. 18 Ole Miss (9-3) beat No. 21 Mississippi State (8-4), 38-27: With Florida losing and getting Alabama next week, you can see a way for the Rebels to jump up and steal the Sugar Bowl bid.
- No. 25 Temple (10-2) beat UConn (6-6), 27-3: The Owls get Houston next week, likely for the New Year’s autobid.
Holding steady
- No. 1 Clemson (12-0) beat South Carolina (3-9), 37-32: It was grosser than it should’ve been against a bad rival, thanks to turnovers, but 12-0 is 12-0. A fall to No. 2 is quite unlikely this week.
- No. 4 Iowa (12-0) beat Nebraska (5-7), 28-20: The Big Ten West’s Playoff contender is still alive and will get Michigan State next Saturday.
- No. 17 Oregon (9-3) beat Oregon State (2-10), 52-42: Preferable to losing to Oregon State.
- No. 16 Northwestern (10-2) beat Illinois (5-7), 24-14: The Wildcats are likely out of range of a New Year’s Six spot, even with total mayhem, but this is still an impressive finish that could help Iowa a bit.
- No. 23 Utah (9-3) beat Colorado (4-9), 20-14: The Utes remaining ranked might be of no great consequence to much of anyone, but it’s nice for the Utes.
That is very bad, ranked team
- No. 6 Notre Dame
- No. 7 Baylor
- No. 10 Michigan
- No. 11 Oklahoma State
- No. 12 Florida
- Houston (11-1) beat No. 15 Navy (9-2), 52-31: UH is your new favorite for the non-power New Year’s bid after beating No. 15 by more than Notre Dame did. The Cougars host Temple for the AAC title next week, and the winner’s going to a real big bowl.
- Washington (6-6) beat No. 20 Washington State (8-4), 45-10: UW’s now .500 (and thus a quality win for Stanford and others), and Wazzu’s rapidly vacating a spot in the rankings.
- No. 21 Mississippi State
- USC (8-4) beat No. 22 UCLA (8-4), 40-21: Not ideal for the Pac-12, as Stanford likely won’t get to face a top-20 team in the Pac-12 Championship.
- Western Michigan (7-5) beat No. 24 Toledo (9-2), 35-30: The MAC’s basically out of the New Year’s hunt, and this sends NIU to play Bowling Green for the conference.
Maybe joining next week’s top 25?
- Bowling Green (9-3) beat Ball State (3-9), 48-10: BGSU faces NIU for the MAC title for the third year in a row.
- BYU (9-3) beat Utah State (6-6), 51-28: A quality win that might not impact anything for anybody.
- Georgia (9-3) beat Georgia Tech (3-9), 13-7: A move into the rankings would help Bama and Florida and Ole Miss, for what it's worth.
- LSU (8-3) beat Texas A&M (8-4): About the same as Georgia.
- Memphis (9-3) beat SMU (2-10), 63-0: Tigers have beaten the team that beat the SEC West champs, you'll recall.
- San Diego State (9-3) beat Nevada (6-6), 31-14: The Mountain West is quite a mess, and SDSU seems a longshot to be ranked this week, but a win over Air Force in the title game could do it next week.
- Tennessee (8-4) beat Vanderbilt (4-8), 53-28: Same as SEC teams above, more or less.
- Western Kentucky (10-2) beat Marshall (9-3), 49-28: WKU has a shot at 11 wins, against Southern Miss.
- Wisconsin (9-3) beat Minnesota (5-7), 31-21: Winning Paul Bunyan's Axe for the 12th year in a row could put the Badgers back at their rightful No. 25, thus brightening Bama and Iowa.
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