The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ranked No. 11 by the College Football Playoff committee in its initial rankings last week, took down the No. 1 team in the country, the Miami Hurricanes, in Week 10 to spoil their undefeated season.
As such, there’s a new top team in college football.
The Georgia Bulldogs, who blew out Ole Miss, 42-7, on the road, cemented themselves as the No. 1 team in the country. They were placed No. 2 behind Miami in the initial ranking given their blemish; A loss to Auburn back in October, had them at 7-1 entering Week 10.
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Meanwhile, Miami plummeted down the rankings six spots after its one-touchdown loss to Notre Dame, moving to No. 7 overall. And the Fighting Irish jumped up six spots with that “signature” win under their belt at home against the top-ranked team, as they are now at No. 5.
But these rankings will surely stir some debate, as Alabama, picking up a commanding 31-13 win over LSU, moved up two spots to No. 3 with a 7-2 record. Utah is above them at No. 2 overall, yet UCLA, who shares the same 9-0 record as the Utes, is No. 4 underneath a two-loss team.
While that will surely stir up the SEC bias argument on social media and beyond, Tennessee came in at No. 8 after a big win over Kentucky, which the committee has at No. 11 in their latest rankings. Both the Vols and Crimson Tide own a 7-2 record, and the head-to-head question that arose in last week’s rankings is even stronger now since Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 earlier this season.
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CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek, who serves as athletic director for Arkansas, explained Alabama’s placement.
“They’re number one in record strength. Number one in their schedule strength,” he said. “They have four, what we call, quality wins, because we continue to call that the win against Mississippi State earlier in the year when they had Kamario Taylor on their team. They were 4-0. Alabama went there and won that game. So, Alabama, we believe, deserves to be the No. 3 team in the country.”
And why wasn’t Tennessee ranked higher?
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“Well, we’ll go back to what you just said about Miami and Notre Dame. Alabama was in that first pool – Tennessee was not in that first pool,” Yurachek said, referring to the subgroups teams are placed in based on metrics, with the first pool being the top teams in the country in the committee’s eyes. “Tennessee’s got a couple of quality wins – their win they just had against Kentucky and the win they had against Alabama.”
Texas came in at No. 6, and after No. 7 Miami and No. 8 Tennessee, we find Indiana, coming off a bye week, sitting at No. 9. They dropped five spots as their key wins earlier this season didn’t look as strong, though the reigning champs remain 8-1.
At No. 10, BYU comes off a wild one against Utah, where they came back in the game on the road only to lose to the No. 2 team in the country. Kentucky is No. 11, Texas Tech is No. 12, and Wake Forest, Houston and Iowa round out the top 15, respectively.
At No. 16, Oregon has leaped seven spots following its 41-28 win over Ohio State, which plummeted eight spots to No. 20 after back-to-back losses that pushed them to 6-3 on the season.
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Ole Miss, coming in at No. 19, also fell hard (nine spots) following the blowout home loss to Georgia.
Here are the full rankings as we head into another pivotal week:
No. 1 : Georgia (8-1)
No. 2: Utah (9-0)
No. 3: Alabama (7-2)
No. 4: UCLA (9-0)
No. 5: Notre Dame (8-1)
No. 6: Texas (7-2)
No. 7: Miami (8-1)
No. 8: Tennessee (7-2)
No. 9: Indiana (8-1)
No. 10: BYU (7-2)
No. 11: Kentucky (7-2)
No. 12: Texas Tech (8-1)
No. 13: Wake Forest (8-1)
No. 14: Houston (7-2)
No. 15: Iowa (7-2)
No. 16: Oregon (6-3)
No. 17: South Carolina (6-3)
No. 18: USC (7-2)
No. 19: Ole Miss (6-3)
No. 20: Ohio State (6-3)
No. 21: LSU (6-3)
No. 22: Missouri (6-3)
No. 23: Arizona (7-2)
No. 24: Boise State (8-1)
No. 25: Oklahoma State (6-3)
