Well, Huskies, we told you to just chill out. We said it would be fine, even though one-loss Texas A&M ranked ahead of you in the first College Football Playoff rankings. We said you’d get in, if you just kept it between the buoys and stayed undefeated.
College Football Playoff rankings reactions: Both Ohio State and UW are still fine
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A&M lost, but after Ohio State eviscerated Nebraska, there was hand-wringing about whether or not the Buckeyes would jump the Huskies in the rankings. But fear not, because they did not.
| Rank | Conference | Last week | Week 10 result | |
| 1 | Alabama, 9-0 | SEC | 1 | W at LSU, 10-0 |
| 2 | Clemson, 9-0 | ACC | 2 | W vs. Syracuse, 54-0 |
| 3 | Michigan, 9-0 | Big Ten | 3 | W vs. Maryland, 59-3 |
| 4 | Washington, 9-0 | Pac-12 | 5 | W at Cal, 66-27 |
| 5 | Ohio State, 8-1 | Big Ten | 6 | W vs. Nebraska, 62-3 |
| 6 | Louisville, 8-1 | ACC | 7 | W at BC, 52-7 |
| 7 | Wisconsin, 7-2 | Big Ten | 8 | W at Northwestern, 21-7 |
| 8 | Texas A&M, 7-2 | SEC | 4 | L vs. Miss. State, 35-28 |
| 9 | Auburn, 7-2 | SEC | 9 | W vs. Vandy, 23-16 |
| 10 | Penn State, 7-2 | Big Ten | 12 | W vs. Iowa, 41-14 |
| 11 | Oklahoma, 7-2 | Big 12 | 14 | W at Iowa State, 34-24 |
| 12 | Colorado, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 15 | W vs. UCLA, 20-10 |
| 13 | Oklahoma State, 7-2 | Big 12 | 18 | W at KSU, 43-37 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech, 7-2 | ACC | 19 | W at Duke, 24-21 |
| 15 | Utah, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 16 | Bye |
| 16 | West Virginia, 7-1 | Big 12 | 20 | W vs. Kansas, 48-21 |
| 17 | North Carolina, 7-2 | ACC | 21 | W vs. GT, 48-20 |
| 18 | Florida State, 6-3 | ACC | 22 | W vs. NCSU, 24-20 |
| 19 | Nebraska, 7-2 | Big Ten | 10 | L at Ohio State, 62-3 |
| 20 | USC, 6-3 | Pac-12 | NR | W vs. Oregon, 45-20 |
| 21 | Western Michigan, 9-0 | MAC | 23 | W at Ball State, 52-20 |
| 22 | Boise State, 8-1 | Mountain West | 24 | W vs. SJSU, 45-31 |
| 23 | Washington State, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 25 | W vs. Arizona, 69-7 |
| 24 | LSU, 5-3 | SEC | 13 | L vs. Alabama, 10-0 |
| 25 | Arkansas, 6-3 | SEC | NR | W vs. Florida, 31-10 |
But in case Ohio State crushes a .500 (and thus résumé-building, in the committee’s eyes) Maryland this weekend, Washington has another ace in the hole. USC is No. 20 now. The Trojans meet the Huskies this weekend. That means a win over USC would all but assure UW of staying in the top four.
Apple Cup opponent Wazzu is also No. 23 now, and the Pac-12 Championship could involve a top-15 team from the South Division.
And the committee cares roughly as much about conference titles as it does about schedule strength, so unless you think a Big 12 champion with a loss is gonna jump an unbeaten Pac-12 champion (it won’t; the Big 12 had a terrible record out-of-conference), the Huskies’ path remains simple.
As for OSU’s chances: it will likely work itself out on Nov. 26, when Michigan comes to town. (OSU holds a tiebreaker edge over Penn State, despite losing to PSU this year.) Whoever wins that will play in the Big Ten Championship, which could be a Playoff play-in game all around, but definitely for the East champ.
Long story short: don’t get worked up just yet either way about these rankings.
As always, there were weird things this week, though.
Texas A&M’s fall from No. 4 after losing to a 4-5 Mississippi State that lost to 4-5 mid-major South Alabama: all the way down to No. 8, ahead of Penn State, which has the best win of any team in the country, according to the rankings themselves.
Nebraska fell only to No. 19 after losing by 59 points. What’s holding the Huskers up this week? Well, their best win was either over 7-2 Wyoming at home or 5-4 Indiana by five points, so ... shrug. Undefeated WMU has matched two of Nebraska’s best wins, over Northwestern and Illinois, and done it while winning eight (and now nine, as of the game after the rankings) blowouts.
Neither of those should amount to much, but they do make the committee’s criteria harder to gauge, as is weekly custom.
Also, some were disappointed to see LSU remain ranked. On the one hand, staying within 10 points of the No. 1 team is a top-25 act. On the other, the Tigers are one game above .500, with their best win against 4-5 Ole Miss. It’ll either be validated or corrected this week, as the two last teams in the rankings play each other.
Remember, there’s still a long way to go.
In 2014, Mississippi State and Auburn remained in the top four at this point; they’d finish ranked No. 7 and No. 19, respectively. Notre Dame appeared in the top four at this time last year and would finish 10-2.
And 2014 national champion Ohio State was still No. 14 at this point in that year. In 2015, Playoff semifinalists Oklahoma and Michigan State ranked Nos. 12 and 13, respectively. (The list of true contenders probably isn’t that long this year, but still.)
And if the season ended right now, here’s what we’d have in the New Year’s Six.
- Peach Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Washington
- Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Michigan
- Rose Bowl: No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Colorado
- Sugar Bowl: No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Oklahoma
- Orange Bowl: No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 7 Wisconsin
- Cotton Bowl: No. 9 Auburn vs. No. 21 Western Michigan
Elsewhere (in college football)
Yep, there’s more chalk at the top than in a usual season. Could add up to a whale of a Playoff, at least.
The NCAA’s reportedly staying out of the Baylor scandal. This is sensible.
Alabama’s using former NFL players on its practice squad. Just another example of the Tide squeezing out every possible edge.
The Big Ten’s first-ever Friday night schedule is out for next year, and the general public’s attention will likely not be altered much by these games.
Week 11 looks very bad! Bud Elliott has 25 bets anyway, including a 1-0 start.
Last night, EMU wore cool helmets that encouraged people to vote. Polls were almost closed in one of the most decisive states, but maybe it reminded one person?
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