No change at the top of CFP rankings

With three games matching teams in the selection committee’s top 10, the College Football Playoff race could become a lot clearer on Saturday. Or more muddled. Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson held their spots in the top four of the selection committee rankings Tuesday night, and unbeaten Miami moved up three spots to No. 7 before its showdown with the Fighting Irish.

Oklahoma remained fifth and TCU moved up to sixth. The Sooners and Horned Frogs play a key Big 12 game on Saturday, with the winner taking sole possession of first place in the conference.

Notre Dame visits the Hurricanes on Saturday night, and Georgia is at Auburn, which came in 10th.

After Miami in the rankings, unbeaten Wisconsin was No. 8, the highestranked Big Ten team. The Hurricanes jumped over Wisconsin after beating Virginia Tech handily last Saturday. The Badgers pulled away late in a rout of Indiana.

Selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech’s athletic director, said the committee was impressed by the Hurricanes’ most convincing win of the season against a “solid” Virginia Tech team.

“That strengthened their resume more than, I would say, Wisconsin strengthened their resume with a win over a three-win Indiana team,” Hocutt said.

Washington, the highest-ranked Pac-12 team, is ninth and Auburn is 10th.

No. 14 Penn State and No. 15 Ohio State fell out of the top 10 after losses last week.

UCF was 18th, the highest-ranked team from outside the Power Five conferences. The highestranked conference champion from the Group of Five leagues is guaranteed a spot in one of the New Year’s Six Bowls, and the American Athletic Conference is in prime position to grab that bid, likely to the Peach or Fiesta bowl. File, Thomas Graning / AP Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn and the Tigers are just 2½-point underdogs this week against the University of Georgia.