College Football Playoff rankings 2022: Projected Week 13 Top 25 after Tennessee upset, USC proves itself, Ohio State gets scared

Projected College Football Playoff rankings after Week 12: No. 14-13

15. Utah Utes

Early-season losses are killing the Utes in what could be a special season. Had they not fallen to either UCLA or Florida, there’s at least a chance that Kyle Whittingham’s team could be in the race to make the College Football Playoff coming into Saturday’s matchup in Autzen against Oregon.

Unfortunately, the Utes weren’t up to the task. While the defense undoubtedly took advantage of Bo Nix playing through an injury, Cam Rising came up short just a few too many times with ill-advised throws and the Utah offense couldn’t find consistent success against a defense that has been quite suspect. This effectively ends the Utes’ hopes of playing for a Pac-12 championship and making it back to the Rose Bowl.

14. Washington Huskies

You have to believe that the ideal scenario for playing to the wire in a hard-fought win over Oregon last week being followed up would be getting to play lowly Colorado this week. So in that regard, Washington was in a favorable spot after it notched its signature win of the season a week ago.

Michael Penix Jr. has been phenomenal over the past month-plus and it’s still wild that this team took some of the losses that it did this season. Having said that, they are looking exceptionally dangerous right now, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Now the key will be keeping that train rolling into next week as they head into the Apple Cup rivalry and play for a chance to possibly sneak into a New Year’s Six matchup.