Written by Erick Smith at USAToday.com
A wild weekend that saw three of the top four teams fall led to some major changes in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
Alabama retained the No. 1 spot it has held all three weeks since the committee started releasing its Top 25. Much has changed below the Crimson Tide.
Ohio State, fifth last week, jumped into the No. 2 spot ahead of Michigan, Clemson and Washington after all three lost last weekend to unranked opponents.
Clemson looked to have taken a serious blow to its bid to return to the title game when it lost to Pittsburgh. But the Tigers got a bit of reprieve. Now all that’s left on their schedule are games against Wake Forest and South Carolina before an expected ACC title game matchup against Virginia Tech. Even though none of those three teams are in the current Top 25, wins against Louisville, Auburn and Florida State, the latter two on the road, will give them a strong résumé if they win the ACC.
Washington dropped two spots to sixth, however it still appears to be in good position. Ohio State and Michigan meet on Nov. 26, knocking one of those teams out of contention. The Huskies would likely pass Louisville with Washington State still on their schedule and an expected Pac-12 title game matchup with either Utah or Colorado. The Utes and Buffaloes, both of which are ranked in the top 12, also play on Nov. 26.
While the Buckeyes and Wolverines will get a big win on the penultimate weekend, the Big Ten situation is far from settled. Wisconsin and Penn State are in the seventh and eight spots and could have strong arguments by winning the conference championship even with two losses. The Buckeyes have to hope for the Nittany Lions to lose against either Rutgers or Michigan to take the East division’s spot in Indianapolis.
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