Texas Tech crept toward the top five and Miami took advantage of losses by other ACC contenders to move from No. 18 to No. 15 in the second College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night.
The top five teams in the rankings were unchanged, with Ohio State No. 1 followed by Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama and Georgia.
Texas Tech moved up two spots to No. 6 after routing BYU in a top-10 matchup in Lubbock. The Big 12 put only one team — conference champion Arizona State — in the 12-team field last year, the fewest among the Power 4 leagues. The Red Raiders are now in a position where they might not need to win the conference and could make the CFP as an at-large selection. Texas Tech could also challenge the Big Ten and SEC schools ahead of it for a first-round bye if it keeps winning; it overtook Ole Miss after taking down the previously No. 7 Cougars.
Oregon moved up a spot to No. 8, and Ole Miss slipped a spot to seventh. The Ducks’ resume had been a little light on high-level opponents before they played at Iowa, which the committee had 20th last week, and won in the final seconds. The Hawkeyes stayed in the rankings this week at No. 21.
Notre Dame was up a spot to ninth, and Texas rounded out the top 10; Oklahoma was next at No. 11. BYU slipped to 12th, one spot ahead of Big 12 rival Utah. Vanderbilt was 14th.
Miami climbed three spots to 15, closing the gap on the Fighting Irish, whom the Hurricanes beat in the season opener. The Hurricanes are now the highest-ranked ACC team, while also sitting seventh in the ACC standings.
South Florida became the first team outside the Power 4 conferences to be ranked by the committee, coming in at No. 24 out of the American Conference.
This is a massive week of high stakes matchups between teams with CFP potential. Here are November’s most impactful games as of tonight’s rankings, with extra credit for CFP ramifications on both sides.
Week 12
No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 22 Pitt. The Panthers will likely play three CFP-relevant games between now and the end of the regular season. The only question is whether they are contenders or just spoilers by Thanksgiving weekend. A Pitt victory this weekend pretty much eliminates Notre Dame and breathes life into the entire ACC by clearing out an at-large spot and giving the conference some transitive-property credit.
No. 19 Virginia at Duke. Yes, the Blue Devils have lost four times, but the winner of this game is still in great shape to reach the ACC title game, and the winner of that game is still most likely to be a Playoff team. Most likely!
No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 4 Alabama. If the Sooners upset the Crimson Tide for a second straight season, it wouldn’t knock Bama out — as it ended up doing in 2024 — but it will keep the Sooners very alive heading down the stretch.
No. 10 Texas at No. 5 Georgia. Same as OU-Bama. The Longhorns still have a path to the SEC title game, though that would be all but cut off with a loss here. Don’t bury Texas’ CFP hopes with a third loss just yet.
No. 24 USF at Navy. Six teams are still reasonably alive to reach the American title game, and this is one of three remaining regular-season games between those teams.
Week 13
No. 17 USC at No. 8 Oregon. The Trojans have a heavy lift this weekend against Iowa at home, and beating Minnesota at home is probably no gimme for the Ducks, but this sets up at worst as Oregon facing elimination against the best team left on its schedule.
No. 12 BYU at No. 25 Cincinnati. This game very likely determines Texas Tech’s opponent in the Big 12 title game.
No. 22 Pitt at No. 16 Georgia Tech. Regardless of what happens with Pitt this weekend, the Yellow Jackets should roll into their last ACC game with all CFP and ACC aspirations intact.
No. 20 Louisville at SMU. The Mustangs’ chances of returning the CFP for a second straight year hinge completely upon winning the ACC, which they very much still can. Despite last week’s upset by Cal, the Cardinals could still be very much alive to reach the ACC title game if they can add this victory to ones against Pitt and Miami.
Week 14
No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 16 Georgia Tech (at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta). Give the Yellow Jackets double-digit victories, including a victory against the Bulldogs, and they are very much in play for an at-large bid. Meanwhile, Georgia probably needs to get just one win between this and the Texas game to feel safe.
No. 3 Texas A&M at No. 10 Texas. The Longhorns are going to come into this game with a shot to get in the CFP no matter what happens this week in Athens. It might be faint, but it’ll be there. A&M is at the point where the stakes of this game could be limited to whether it will wear road or home uniforms for the SEC title game in Atlanta — and, of course, the ability to lord over its hated rivals for a year.
No. 14 Vanderbilt at No. 23 Tennessee. Vandy could absolutely step on a rake against Kentucky the week before and remove this game from the list. If the Commodores avoid that potential trap, they would head to their in-state rivals — still not sure the Vols will admit to Vandy being their rivals — for something that would be not quite a win-and-in but certainly a lose-and-out game.
No. 15 Miami at No. 22 Pitt. This should be the Hurricanes’ toughest test remaining, but with Miami, getting to this game unscathed by NC State and at Virginia Tech is not a given. The Canes have rolled into Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving weekend with CFP hopes only to be left cold, damp and eliminated by a freshman quarterback before.
No. 1 Ohio State at No. 18 Michigan. The Wolverines are not in position to take Northwestern or Maryland for granted the next two weeks, but they could very well host the Buckeyes looking for a fifth straight win in the series and a chance to go to the Big Ten championship again. This will purely be a mental-health game for Buckeyes fans.