Georgia's 35-point road blowout of Ole Miss was enough for the Bulldogs to take over the No. 1 spot in the second edition of the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday.
Ten teams from the initial rankings' top 12 remained, but there was plenty of movement by those programs after a weekend that featured six ranked-on-ranked matchups.
Utah moved into No. 2 following its Holy War win over BYU, while Alabama rose to No. 3 after dismantling LSU on the road in Death Valley. Unbeaten UCLA rounds out the top four, each of which would receive first-round byes if the season ended today.
Miami dropped from No. 1 to No. 7 after its loss to Notre Dame, with the Fighting Irish now at No. 5 following their dramatic home win Saturday.
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 8-1 |
| 2 | Utah | 9-0 |
| 3 | Alabama | 7-2 |
| 4 | UCLA | 9-0 |
| 5 | Notre Dame | 8-1 |
| 6 | Texas | 7-2 |
| 7 | Miami | 8-1 |
| 8 | Tennessee | 7-2 |
| 9 | Indiana | 8-1 |
| 10 | BYU | 7-2 |
| 11 | Kentucky | 7-2 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 8-1 |
Indiana tumbled despite being on its bye week due to a significant hit to its strength of schedule. Every single Big Ten team the Hoosiers have played this season lost over the weekend, and Indiana's loss to Ohio State looks worse after the Buckeyes dropped a third game.
Ohio State and Ole Miss were the two teams from the initial top 12 to drop out, landing at Nos. 19 and 20, respectively, after blowout home losses. Tennessee and Texas Tech entered the top 12, although the 12th-seeded Red Raiders would be replaced by No. 24 Boise State in the bracket because the Broncos are the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Wake Forest | 8-1 |
| 14 | Houston | 7-2 |
| 15 | Iowa | 7-2 |
| 16 | Oregon | 6-3 |
| 17 | South Carolina | 6-3 |
| 18 | USC | 7-2 |
| 19 | Ole Miss | 6-3 |
| 20 | Ohio State | 6-3 |
| 21 | LSU | 6-3 |
| 22 | Missouri | 6-3 |
| 23 | Arizona | 7-2 |
| 24 | Boise State | 8-1 |
| 25 | Oklahoma State | 6-3 |
Current bracket
Byes: Georgia, Utah, Alabama, UCLA
First-round matchups
No. 12 Boise State vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
No. 11 Kentucky vs. No. 6 Texas
No. 10 BYU vs. No. 7 Miami
No. 9 Indiana vs. No. 8 Tennessee
Takeaways and analysis
Indiana apparently lost on its bye week
Indiana sitting No. 9 in the second version of this rankings is probably accurate, but boy, did we ever get there in an awkward fashion.
The Hoosiers somehow sat at No. 4 in last week's ranking despite boasting zero ranked wins and losing to Ohio State. That was easily one of the most controversial rankings in the initial list, and so the committee adjusted that by moving them to No. 9 despite the fact they didn't play this past weekend!
Indiana's strength of schedule was a bit weak to begin with, and plummeted further after every single Big Ten team it has played lost this weekend. That - coupled with some questionable offensive performances over the last month - gave the committee enough pause to move them back five spots.
Again, that's probably a fair place for Curt Cignetti's team to be, but the way we got there won't go over well with the fanbase in Bloomington. They can take solace in the fact their stay at No. 9 won't be long should Indiana beat No. 18 USC this weekend at home. That could send it right back into the top 4 for next Tuesday's list.
This committee loves volatility
Previous iterations of the CFP committee often shied away from making drastic changes on a week-to-week basis, but volatile might just be the mantra of this year's group.
The result of the Miami-Notre Dame game created an incredible shakeup in the rankings, with the Irish moving up six places after winning, and the Hurricanes dropping by the same amount with the loss.
That move would suggest a blowout by Notre Dame, but that was not the case after four quarters of action. Miami went on the road as seven-point underdogs without its best receiver and had multiple chances to tie the game late before losing by a touchdown.
Alabama-Tennessee is this year's Miami-Notre Dame
We spent all of the CFP ranking shows last year wondering why Miami was ranked below Notre Dame despite the Hurricanes having the same record and a head-to-head win over the Irish from Week 1. The committee's reasoning was that those two teams were far enough apart in the ranking that the head-to-head matchup wasn't being used yet to grade them.
That changed on the final ranking release, with Miami jumping Notre Dame and making the field while the Irish were left on the outside looking in. The committee's reasoning was that those two teams were finally in the same pool which made the head-to-head result the tiebreaker.
We are headed there again this year with Alabama and Tennessee.
The committee continues to love the Tide based on what chair Hunter Yurachek called the No. 1 record strength and No. 1 schedule strength. Tennessee's lack of quality wins in the committee's eyes is why Alabama is No. 3 and the Volunteers sit at 7.
"Tennessee's got three wins against teams that's schedule strength is 110 and above," Yurachek said. "When you look at their schedule compared to Alabama's schedule, the committee feels like - and so do the metrics - that Alabama's got a stronger schedule and that's why Alabama was in that first pool of teams and Tennessee was not.
While that has to be infuriating to Tennessee fans, this will play itself out just like last year did with Miami and Notre Dame. The Volunteers play Texas A&M, LSU, and Vanderbilt to end the season - three teams that are also on the Crimson Tide schedule. Beat those teams and that will force the committee to look at Alabama and Tennessee in the same pool and give the nod to the Volunteers.
