The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday with Ohio State dropping out and the CFB media had thoughts on the Top 25.
There was an opportunity for a lot of drama to be on the table in conference championship weekend for the College Football Playoff rankings. But instead, the final week of the regular season eliminated so much of that while also really hammering down the Top 4 teams heading into the final games before the endgame CFP rankings.
Michigan went into Columbus for the first time since 2000 and dismantled rival Ohio State, most likely claiming the No. 2 spot and severely limiting the Buckeyes’ paths to make it into the Playoff. But USC beating Notre Dame to finish 11-1, LSU losing shockingly to Texas A&M, Clemson getting knocked off by South Carolina and much more shook things up.
So that led us to Tuesday night and the reveal of the next-to-last College Football Playoff rankings of this season with conference championship games looming. Here’s what they looked like.
College Football Playoff rankings: Top 25 in Week 14
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Michigan Wolverines
- TCU Horned Frogs
- USC Trojans
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Clemson Tigers
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Utah Utes
- Washington Huskies
- Florida State Seminoles
- LSU Tigers
- Oregon State Beavers
- Oregon Ducks
- UCLA Bruins
- Tulane Green Wave
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Texas Longhorns
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- UCF Knights
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- NC State Wolfpack
Despite the conversation that Georgia could fall to No. 2 after Michigan’s big win, the committee seemed to still value the Dawgs’ non-conference and SEC schedule more than the Wolverines’ soft non-con slate. Meanwhile, Alabama might’ve been dealt the toughest blow as they came in behind Ohio State, all but eliminating them from Playoff contention no matter what chaos ensues.
LSU was hit hard by their loss to Texas A&M as they dropped nine spots from No. 5, but that was expected. We also saw Notre Dame drop out of the Top 20 while South Carolina moved from unranked to No. 19 after consecutive Top 10 wins over Tennessee and Clemson.
College football media reactions to the penultimate 2022 CFP rankings
Looking at these rankings, here’s what the college football media had to say about the way things played out.
10-2 Tennessee is behind 10-2 Alabama, who they beat. 🤷
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 30, 2022
No real surprises in the committee's top 10. Ohio State dropping below Alabama would have been insane and very funny but I doubt it was very close.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) November 30, 2022
Alabama is No. 6, one spot behind Ohio State. They are out officially.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) November 30, 2022
Alabama gonna need to practice real well this week to get in.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 30, 2022
If the current Top 4 stays the same after championship weekend…Michigan is likely gonna win the CFP
— Jared Paul Joseph (@JaredPJoseph) November 30, 2022
Michigan football went into Columbus and beat an 11-0 Ohio State team by 22 points to polish off an undefeated regular season and ESPN folks are *still* talking about the non-conference schedule 😂
— Derick Hutchinson (@Derick_Hutch) November 30, 2022
Buckeyes poised to grab the 4 spot IF USC loses to Utah in @pac12 Title game Friday night.
— Clay Hall (@claywsyx6) November 30, 2022
Ohio State and Alabama are both outside the top 4 of the #CFBPlayoff rankings and are idle this weekend.
— Dean Straka (@DWStraka49) November 30, 2022
If either gets in, it really feels like we're doing nothing more than punishing someone else for actually reaching their respective conference title game.
Very little debate. Ohio State is in with a little help.
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) November 30, 2022
There is going to plenty of talk all week about the notion of Ohio State and Alabama backing in after not making their conference championship games. That’s a great debate, especially given that the Crimson Tide have two losses. And the debate is already raging after these rankings before we even see if those teams have a path in.
That path, of course, would be either TCU or USC losing in their conference championship games. But in any case, this sets the stage for what we could see this weekend and on Sunday, Dec. 4 for the final College Football Playoff rankings.
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