After overcoming tough matches against unranked opponents, the top four teams in the College Football Playoff rankings remained the same on Tuesday night, but LSU held on to fifth place, one ahead of USC.
Georgia led the CFP selection committee rankings for the third straight week, followed by Ohio State University in second, Michigan in third and TCU in fourth. He was second in both the Buckeyes and Wolverines playing in Columbus this Saturday. later in the week before keeping their undefeated record intact. Both Michigan and TCU needed advancing field goals in the final minute to hold off Illinois and Baylor respectively.
USC’s dramatic road win over cross-town rivals UCLA wasn’t enough to leapfrog LSU’s two-loss defeat of UAB 41-10 at Tiger Stadium. Lincoln Riley’s team ranked him No. 5 in both his AP and Coaches polls on Sunday, making him USC’s AP Top 5 ranking for the first time since September 2017. After losing in Oregon.
Boo Corrigan, director of athletics at NC State University and chairman of the CFP committee, said of the choice on ESPN’s rankings show, “For the last few days, it’s been the dominant conversation. Look at it in the right direction. It was to make sure I was there,” he said. “USC has a reason why he’s fifth, and LSU has a reason why he’s fifth.”
Last week’s No. 5 Tennessee dropped to No. 10 with a 63-38 loss to South Carolina.
LSU finishes the regular season at Texas A&M before facing Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. USC hosts Notre Dame Cathedral this week, and he moved up three spots to 15th in the selection committee rankings. The Trojans’ Pac-12 Championship opponents will be decided this weekend. Oregon, whose victory in Utah moved him up three places to ninth, can beat 21st-ranked Oregon on the road to clinch his first-place finish in Las Vegas.
A loss in Oregon this week opens the door for No. 13 Washington and Utah to reach the Pac-12 Championship.
Alabama and Clemson both moved up to 7th and 8th in the rankings. Clemson hosts an unranked South Carolina team on Saturday, but moves up three places to beat Florida and Louisville, who placed him 16th. Clemson is gearing up for his ACC Championship matchup against North Carolina State. North Carolina dropped just four spots to 17th after he lost 6-4 at home to the Georgia Tech team last Saturday.
“I’m asking for football judgment. And the game against Notre Dame… it continues to be part of the debate,” Corrigan said of the Tigers’ 14-35 loss to Ireland. “All in all, at Alabama he was seven and at Clemson he was eight.”
TCU, which hosts Iowa State on Saturday, will face either No. 12 Kansas State or No. 23 Texas in next week’s Big 12 Championship Game. Kansas State, who moved up three places in Tuesday’s rankings, can beat Kansas State to advance. If Kansas fell, Texas would go if they beat Baylor.
“We go through the same thing every week,” Corrigan said. “TCU has done a really good job in finding ways to win the game.”
After a home victory over SMU and UCF’s home loss to Navy, Tulane are once again the highest-ranked team in Group of 5 at 19th. Friday’s Green Wave travels to Cincinnati No. 24, where the winner will host the American Athletic Conference title game next week. The Tulane-Cincinnati winner could face a rematch in the championship, but No. 22 UCF and Houston could also reach the game.
