The College Football Playoff rankings have divided the season into phases, but this year, all bets are off. After back-to-back losses to Georgia and Tennessee in October, Alabama was seemingly on the cusp of elimination. However, a debut at No. 5 and a 31-13 win against LSU have the Tide in contention for a first-round bye.
Same with Texas, who returned to No. 7 after a win over Missouri. Notre Dame, sitting at No. 11 with one loss, approached their game against top-ranked Miami as a must-win and responded with a 31-24 victory. Given a remaining schedule of Boston College, SMU, and at Syracuse, the Irish are playoff bound.
Meanwhile, Oregon's obituary was written weeks ago, but a upset of Ohio State keeps their three-loss hopes flickering. In the Pac-12, No. 8 UCLA won at Minnesota, and No. 3 Utah extended the nation's longest winning streak to 14 games with a 28-20 win against No. 9 BYU in the first-ever top-10 matchup in the Holy War. With seven matchups between ranked teams this week, trying to establish a clear hierarchy is next to impossible.
Anyone claiming strong feelings about the rankings does so with false confidence, as circular results across the country make the path to the 12-team field uncertain.
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing