The penultimate edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday and Washington moved into the No. 4 spot after Michigan’s double-overtime loss to Ohio State last week. Michigan dropped to No. 5, remaining ahead of No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Penn State and No. 8 Colorado -- all teams Michigan beat this season.
This leads into five days of debate of how the committee will handle Michigan over the eventual Big Ten champion and a possible Pac-12 champion Colorado.
Oklahoma checked in at No. 9 followed by Oklahoma State at No. 10, all but securing the Big 12’s second missed Playoff in three years. Colorado passed the Sooners at No. 8 ahead of Friday’s Pac-12 Championship against Washington.
Auburn dropped just one spot after last week’s loss to Alabama and remained one spot ahead of Florida, keeping the Tigers ahead of the Gators for the Sugar Bowl spot should Florida lose to the Tide in Saturday’s SEC Championship.
LSU rejoined the rankings for the umpteenth time at No. 21, as did ACC Championship participant Virginia Tech at No. 23 and Pittsburgh at No. 25.
The full rankings:
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Clemson
- Washington
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Penn State
- Colorado
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- USC
- Florida State
- Louisville
- Auburn
- Florida
- West Virginia
- Western Michigan
- Stanford
- Navy
- Utah
- LSU
- Tennessee
- Virginia Tech
- Houston
- Pittsburgh