College Football Rankings Report

The second of six College Football Playoff rankings is out and there was no change at the top. Clemson (9-0) remains at No. 1 after beating Florida State and the Tigers certainly look as if they may be the best team in the land.

Because the CFP committee isn’t locked into weeks of previous beliefs about certain teams as many polls are, other interesting things can happen. Would you put a team with one loss ahead of the unbeaten defending national champions? The committee did, and rightfully so. The new No. 2 is Alabama (8-1). The Crimson Tide ranked fourth last night, pounded former No. 2 LSU into the ground. Alabama leaped past Ohio State (9-0), which had cruised easily but unimpressively past Minnesota 28-14.

Notre Dame (8-1) moved up from fifth to fourth after beating Pitt.

If the playoffs were today, Ohio State and Alabama would meet, as they did last Jan. 1, in one semifinal, while Clemson would play Notre Dame. Ohio State defeated Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl, and then won the national title by swamping Oregon.

None of this amounts to much more than a fun discussion at this point. While Clemson is unlikely to be dislodged at No. 1, the other three could move around. Ohio State has three games left against Big Ten teams with winning records – Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan, and possibly a Big Ten championship game against unbeaten Iowa. Notre Dame has a very tough season ender against Stanford (8-1).

We’ll do this again next week.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .