Georgia took the top spot in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings, emerging as the new No. 1 after previous front-runner Miami tumbled following a weekend defeat, the New York Post reported.
The second release of the playoff selection committee’s weekly standings featured sharp moves across the board. Utah landed at No. 2, followed by Alabama at No. 3 and undefeated UCLA jumping four places to No. 4, according to the New York Post. Notre Dame surged six spots to No. 5 after knocking off Miami 31-24, leapfrogging the Hurricanes, who fell six positions to No. 7.
Committee Defends Dramatic Shifts
Hunter Yurachek, chair of the 13-person selection committee, defended the heavy shuffling among top-tier contenders. He pointed to Miami’s stumble and several statement victories directly behind the Hurricanes as the rationale for reshuffling the upper tier.
“You have that combination of Miami losing as a No. 1 team and then five teams behind them having some signature wins,” Yurachek said, as reported by the New York Post. “The committee thought moving those teams ahead of Miami was the right thing to do.”
One of the most notable adjustments hit Indiana, which slid five places to No. 9 despite having a bye week. Yurachek explained that the Hoosiers were “probably a victim of having a bye week at the wrong time,” noting that three earlier opponents Indiana defeated also lost over the weekend, dinging their strength of schedule. Meanwhile, UCLA beat Minnesota by two touchdowns—the same squad that pushed Indiana into overtime the week prior—prompting Yurachek to say the Bruins looked like the fourth-best team in the country.
The rest of the top 12 featured Texas at No. 6, Tennessee at No. 8, BYU at No. 10, Kentucky at No. 11, and Texas Tech at No. 12, the New York Post reported. Kentucky slipped five spots following a 34-6 loss to Tennessee, but the Wildcats remain in postseason contention during their first campaign under head coach Will Stein, SB Nation reported.
The Race for the Final Spots
Under this season’s 12-team postseason structure, Texas Tech would be the first team excluded from the field because the highest-ranked champion or representative from the Group of Six receives an automatic berth. Boise State, currently at 8-1, climbed one place to No. 24 on Tuesday to maintain that projected slot, Bleacher Report and the New York Post reported.
However, the committee’s choices outside the power conferences sparked debate. Bleacher Report noted that New Mexico remained unranked at 8-1, despite holding only a single eight-point road defeat against Oklahoma, while seven teams with three losses made the Top 25. College Football News listed New Mexico with an 8-1 record following a 31-3 win over Nevada.
Three Tuesday rankings shows remain before the final 12-team bracket is officially established on Dec. 6, right after conference championship weekend. Next season, the College Football Playoff will abandon its current format and expand to a 24-team field, the New York Post reported.
