Ohio State remained No. 1 in the second College Football Playoff rankings, stiff-arming a challenge from two-time defending national champion Georgia.
Now can the Buckeyes stay there through the first Saturday of December?
While they trailed at halftime and nearly went down by two possessions early in the third quarter, the Buckeyes did notch the sort of win against Rutgers that tends to move the needle with the playoff selection committee. One, Rutgers is a Power Five opponent, and two, the Scarlet Knights have a winning record.
But that win was not as impressive as Georgia’s 30-21 victory against Missouri, inching the Bulldogs a little bit closer to Ohio State. That gap may close or evaporate entirely given how Georgia next plays No. 9 Mississippi and No. 13 Tennessee before ending the month against Georgia Tech, which could by that point be bowl eligible.
Ohio State has the trump card: the rivalry against No. 3 Michigan. Even if Georgia moves ahead in the next two weeks, winning in Ann Arbor would be enough to send the Buckeyes back to No. 1. Until the following Saturday, that is, should the Bulldogs complete another perfect regular season by beating Alabama in the SEC championship game.
The Buckeyes and Bulldogs lead the winners and losers from Tuesday night’s playoff rankings:
Winners
Ohio State
The committee really likes the Buckeyes. Not that there’s any real reason not to: Ohio State has been reimagined with a focus on defense and sparked by the return of running back TreVeyon Henderson in posting six wins against opponents with a winning record. While the Notre Dame fell to No. 20 after losing to Clemson, the Buckeyes also owns an impressive twofer of wins against the Fighting Irish and Penn State. There’s reason to think Georgia could acquire the wins needed to eventually pull up to No. 1 but no real argument at this point for bumping the Buckeyes back a spot.
Tulane
With Air Force taking a 20-point loss to Army, No. 23 Tulane stands as the only Group of Five team in the playoff rankings and the obvious favorite to make a return trip to the New Year’s Six with another American Athletic championship. Things could become complicated should the Green Wave lose a game in November, which could open a path for unbeaten Liberty, Toledo or the eventual winner of the Mountain West to move to the front of the line. Another thing to consider: James Madison continues to push the NCAA to undo a rule that prevents the Dukes from participating in the postseason as a transitional member of the Bowl Subdivision. If successful, James Madison could be a contender to land ahead of Tulane.
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Missouri
The Tigers fell just two spots to No. 14 and are a very real contender for the New Year’s Six heading into Saturday’s game against Tennessee. Given how the committee has given Missouri some benefit of the doubt through two rankings, a win against the Volunteers could push the Tigers even closer to top 10 and set up a scenario where they can clinch a 10-win regular season and a finish inside the final top 12 with wins against Florida and Arkansas to end November.
Losers
Oklahoma
The Sooners didn’t just drop after losing to Oklahoma State — they plummeted eight spots to No. 17 after suffering a second loss. This fall is a result of the committee’s wishy-washiness over Oklahoma’s broader résumé that predated these two defeats to Kansas and the Cowboys, primarily hinged to what the committee has viewed as unimpressive wins against SMU, Cincinnati and Central Florida. Some aspect of where the Sooners land in the playoff rankings has to do with head-to-head tiebreakers; they have to be behind Kansas and Oklahoma State, two teams with the same record. But there’s another part of Oklahoma’s ranking that speaks to its reputation with the committee, and November games against West Virginia, TCU and Brigham Young won’t do much to change that conversation.
Southern California
As expected, Southern California was not in the playoff rankings after a shootout loss to Washington, the Trojans’ third loss. There’s still something unbelievably disappointing about this absence: USC was one win away from reaching last year’s national semifinals and won six in a row to open this season before dropping three of four, with the one win a 50-49 disaster against California. While any national championship hopes evaporated nearly a month ago, for the Trojans to not even be in the rankings at all really hammers home how disappointing this season has been.
