With the first College Football Playoff rankings of 2018, the table’s now set for the season’s stretch run.
What Week 10’s results mean, from a Playoff rankings perspective
Keeping track of top-25 results, with postseason notes on each game as it goes final.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Below, we’re keeping track of each top-25 game’s impact, both before and after final scores, mostly paying attention to CFP committee business, not highlights and stuff.
Remember the things the committee has mostly demonstrated it rewards: wins over final top-25 teams, wins over bowl teams, road wins, dominant wins, weirdly excusable losses, being Alabama, and not being a mid-major. It does not care what your opponent’s ranking was at kickoff.
All times ET. All days Saturday, unless noted. Final scores in bold.
Probably important
Games in which the winning team will likely have a pretty high-quality victory by season’s end. Or: really meaningful upsets.
- No. 1 Alabama (9-0) 29, No. 3 LSU (7-2) 0: Lmao the spread was 14.5, and that was hilariously enormous. Bama doubled it in Death Valley. Crown ‘em.
- No. 5 Michigan (8-1) 42, No. 14 Penn State (6-3) 7: I had the Wolverines in the Playoff, and I do believe I’ll leave them there, thank you. Penn State’s NY6 chances took a big hit.
- No. 6 Georgia (8-1) 34, No. 9 Kentucky (7-2) 17: An impressive way to clinch the SEC East. If not for a fluky TD toward the end, the Dawgs would’ve more than doubled the spread on the road.
- Missouri (5-4) 38, No. 11 Florida (6-3) 17: So Mizzou is good (the results against Alabama and Georgia were already relatively impressive), and Florida’s NY6 hopes might’ve just ended.
- No. 13 West Virginia (7-1) 42, No. 17 Texas (6-3) 41: One of the wildest games of 2018 ends with WVU likely the favorite to lose to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship.
- Arizona State (5-4) 38, No. 15 Utah (6-3) 20: The Pac-12 South is at least as messy as the ACC Coastal and Big Ten West. As of now, ARIZONA is tied for the lead.
- Pitt (5-4) 23, No. 25 Virginia (6-3) 13: You thought it was weird how Virginia was leading the ACC Coastal? That’s nothing. Pitt now leads.
Maybe important
Games in which the winner will probably have beaten a decent bowl team.
- No. 4 Notre Dame (9-0) 31, Northwestern (5-4) 21: Northwestern could win the Big Ten West. Northwestern could be a .500 team that lost to Akron. This could’ve been anything from a decent win to a great win, but the Irish control their path regardless.
- No. 7 Oklahoma (8-1) 51, Texas Tech (5-4) 46: Well, we might not be hearing the committee praise OU’s improved defense any time soon, but that’s a decent road win that keeps the Sooners on course for a Big 12 title and alive for the Playoff.
- No. 8 Washington State (8-1) 19, Cal (5-4) 13: WSU is still alive for the Playoff, but more realistically, moves a step closer to clinching the Pac-12 North. Before the Apple Cup, ideally.
- Purdue (5-4) 38, No. 16 Iowa (6-3) 36: OK, so, um, maybe Northwestern really will win the Big Ten West? I don’t know. Someone has to, theoretically.
- No. 18 Mississippi State (6-3) 45, Louisiana Tech (6-3) 3
- No. 19 Syracuse (7-2) 41, Wake Forest (4-5) 24
- Auburn (6-3) 28, No. 20 Texas A&M (5-4) 24: Gus Malzahn bounces off the mat with a comeback win? A&M collapses? I have never seen these things happen before all the time!
- No. 21 NC State (6-2) 47, Florida State (4-5) 28: FSU’s nation-leading bowl streak remains in major jeopardy.
- No. 22 Boston College (7-2) 31, Virginia Tech (4-4) 21
Important for the Group of 5 race
Since the committee’s showed over four years that non-power teams have a REALLY long path to the Playoff, let’s have a separate section for the race to be the top-ranked mid-major champ.
- No. 12 UCF (8-0) 52, Temple (5-4) 40: UCF never had a Playoff chance, and unlike last year, it doesn’t have a real case anyway. This is just a respectable win that should maintain their surprisingly large lead in the committee’s Group of 5 rankings.
- No. 23 Fresno State (8-1) 48, UNLV (2-7) 3: The Mountain West still probably has to hope UCF loses, since it’s clear the committee cares a whole lot about the number in the loss column — Fresno very well might’ve been better than UCF on the year so far.
- Buffalo 51 (8-1), Miami (Ohio) (3-6) 42
- Cincinnati (8-1) 42, Navy (2-7) 0
- SMU (4-5) 45, Houston (7-2) 31: What?
- UAB (8-1) 52, UTSA (3-6) 3
- Tulane (4-5) 41, USF (7-2) 15
- Utah State (8-1) 56, Hawaii (6-5) 17
Probably not important
The committee tries not to care much about your wins over teams that finish with bad records, though you can get some credit for winning on the road or really laying it to folks. So for the ranked teams here: just don’t lose!
- No. 2 Clemson (9-0) 77, Louisville (2-7) 16: This was so much worse than it even should’ve been. Fire Bobby Petrino.
- No. 10 Ohio State (8-1) 36, Nebraska (2-7) 31: The Buckeyes’ strength of schedule is suddenly not great, and this gruesome effort didn’t help matters, but they control their destiny regardless.
- No. 24 Iowa State (5-3) 27, Kansas (3-6) 3
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