Georgia remained No. 4 in the College Football Playoff selection committee's latest rankings, released Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs aren’t the only team staying put. The top seven teams in the CFP rankings are unchanged after all of them won their games last week. LSU remains No. 1, Ohio State No. 2, Clemson No. 3, Georgia No. 4, Alabama No. 5, Oregon No. 6 and Utah No. 7.
Beyond that point, there was some movement. Penn State climbed one spot to No. 8, and Minnesota, last week’s No. 8, dropped to No. 10 after losing at Iowa. Oklahoma moved up one spot to No. 9 after overcoming a 28-3 deficit to beat previously undefeated Baylor, which dropped from No. 13 to No. 14.
Rob Mullens, chair of the selection committee, said on a conference call Tuesday night that Georgia’s win last week against “a tough Auburn team on the road” enhanced a resume that already included victories over Notre Dame and Florida. The committee’s latest rankings have Florida No. 11, Auburn No. 15 and Notre Dame No. 16.
The committee kept Alabama one spot behind Georgia after the Crimson Tide routed Mississippi State but lost star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a season-ending hip injury in the process. Mullens said the injury “didn’t impact the rankings this week.”
As for how the loss of Tagovailoa will affect the committee’s ranking of Alabama in the coming weeks, Mullens said: “We do not project. We do not look forward. Our charge is to rank the teams based on their body of work through (last week), and that is what we did. Obviously, we’ll watch the games moving forward and evaluate them after that.”
LSU, Ohio State and Clemson are the only unbeatens among the 130 FBS teams and seem solidly entrenched in the top three — as long as they keep winning.
Mullens: “LSU remains impressive with its powerful offense; they have three wins against teams in the top 25. Ohio State is strong on both sides of the ball; they’ve made a statement all year long. Clemson, too, has been dominant all season.”
The 13-member CFP committee will re-rank the teams weekly until Dec. 8, Selection Day, at which point the top four teams will make the playoff. One of the playoff semifinals this season will be played at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The other semifinal will be in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
NEW CFP RANKINGS
1. LSU (10-0)
2. Ohio State (10-0)
3. Clemson (11-0)
4. Georgia (9-1)
5. Alabama (9-1)
6. Oregon (9-1)
7. Utah (9-1)
8. Penn State (9-1)
9. Oklahoma (9-1)
10. Minnesota (9-1)
11. Florida (9-2)
12. Wisconsin (8-2)
13. Michigan (8-2)
14. Baylor (9-1)
15. Auburn (7-3)
16. Notre Dame (8-2)
17. Iowa (7-3)
18. Memphis (9-1)
19. Cincinnati (9-1)
20. Boise State (9-1)
21. Oklahoma State (7-3)
22. Iowa State (6-4)
23. USC (7-4)
24. Appalachian State (9-1)
25. SMU (9-1)
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