Top 10 unchanged in CFP rankings

The top four teams remained unchanged in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, which were revealed Tuesday night following a quiet weekend in which every team ranked in the top 10 won their games.

Top- ranked Alabama (10-0) continues to lead the way followed by Clemson (10-0), Notre Dame (10-0) and Michigan (8-1).

Georgia (9-1) remains on the outside looking in on a possible spot in the two semifinals at No. 5. The Bulldogs, who locked up a spot in the SEC Championship two weeks ago, will face Alabama in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.

Playoff chairman Rob Mullens said the group has been very impressed with Georgia’s performance as of late.

“Their last three wins are extremely impressive and the bounce back from the loss at LSU and you look at those coupled with their only loss coming against a ranked LSU team and we see a very competitive team,” Mullens said.

Oklahoma (9-1) continues to represent the Big 12’s best hopes at No. 6 despite the fact the Sooners have the worst ranked defense (No. 80) among the top 10 teams.

“We look at their resume and they’re 9-1 and their only loss was is to a Texas team at a neutral site in a very close game,” Mullens said of Oklahoma. “But as you dig deeper, you see a great quarterback, one of the top offenses in the country with a lot of playmakers but you also noticed particularly in the last few weeks that the defense has struggled.”

No. 7 LSU (8-2) remains the only two-loss team among the top 10 teams after the Tigers dispatched Arkansas this weekend.

Washington State (9-1), which is putting together one of its best seasons in close to two decades, remains at No. 8 this week.

West Virginia (8-1) and Ohio State (9-1) round out the rest of the top 10.

UCF (9-0), which is one of four unbeaten remaining, moved up a spot to No. 11 with a win over Navy. The Knights currently have the nation’s longest winning streak at 22 games.

Most of the movement in the rankings came in the spots 14 through 25 especially after seven teams lost games over the weekend.

This is the third of the six weekly rankings released by the 13-member selection committee, with the final standings to be revealed on Dec. 2. Those rankings will determine the four semifinalists along with the teams participating in the remainder of the New Year’s Six bowl games.

The two semifinals, which rotate yearly, will take place in Miami at the Orange Bowl and in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 29.