CFP Rankings Update

The third week of the College Football Playoff Rankings brought few surprises.
The top five teams – Clemson (10-0), Alabama (9-1), Ohio State (10-0), Notre Dame (9-1) and Iowa (10-0) – remain exactly where they were. There will be three more rankings, with the finale on Dec. 6 setting the four-team field for the playoff that leads to the national championship.

The team in the trickiest spot may be Ohio State, the defending champion. The Buckeyes play No. 9 Michigan State (9-1) at home and No. 12 Michigan (8-2) on the road. A Big Ten championship game would pit the Buckeyes against Iowa in Indianapolis. Quite a road to a repeat, eh?

Two teams lurk, ready to take advantage of any slippage above, and they are No. 6 Oklahoma State (10-0) and No. 7 Oklahoma (9-1). The Big 12 has no conference championship game, so their meeting – known as Bedlam – on Nov. 28 should settle the Big 12 and perhaps position one of these two in the top four. The Big 12 was shut out of the playoffs last season.

Don’t expect Clemson, which plays two teams with losing records (Wake Forest, South Carolina), or Alabama (Charleston Southern, Auburn) to falter now. Notre Dame shouldn’t have too much trouble with Boston College, but finishes with No. 11 Stanford (8-2). So it is Notre Dame and Ohio State that the Oklahoma schools will hope to leapfrog.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .