The top five teams in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday, remained unchanged, while Iowa State‘s playoff hopes received a boost and Cincinnati‘s absorbed another blow.
Alabama continues to lead off the rankings at No. 1, followed by No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Texas A&M. Notre Dame and Clemson are scheduled to meet for the second time this season in Saturday’s ACC championship game.
Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide (10-0) head into the SEC championship game to face No. 7 Florida, which dropped only one spot after a 37-34 home loss to 3-5 LSU. Ohio State, which most recently played Dec. 5 and has logged only five games this season, takes on No. 14 Northwestern for the Big Ten championship
Iowa State, which was idle this past weekend, moves up a spot to No. 6 entering the Big 12 championship game against No. 10 Oklahoma. The Cyclones, Gators and No. 8 Georgia all have two losses, but sit ahead of undefeated No. 9 Cincinnati (8-0), which has dropped one spot in each of the past two rankings despite not playing since Nov. 21 at UCF.
The Bearcats finally get a chance to impress the committee in the American Athletic Conference title game against No. 23 Tulsa, which moves up a spot. But even a victory could keep them behind the Big 12 champion and possibly Texas A&M, which is scheduled to face unranked Tennessee this week. Georgia is idle after its game against Vanderbilt was canceled because of COVID-19 and other roster availability issues with the Commodores.
The CFP selection committee reveals its final rankings, including the four semifinal teams, on Sunday.