College Football Playoff: Louisville Plummets in Week 13 Projections

With the college football playoff pairings just weeks away from being finalized most teams were able to stand pat this past weekend, except for Louisville.

The Cardinals got run over on the road against a Houston squad led (for now) by Tom Herman. Lamar Jackson had a season low 33 yards rushing and only managed one touchdown for the Louisville offense. I’m only projecting the top 10, but I’d peg Louisville around 17.

Here are my Week 13 projections (last week’s ranking is in parenthesis):

What We’re Thinking

The winner of the Ohio State and Michigan game this weekend is going to find themselves in the top four next weekend. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter where either of them are ranked this week. What’s to stop the committee for sparking some controversy by dropping a Michigan team that hasn’t had a spark on offense sense they lost their starting quarterback?

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As things currently stand, the Washington Huskies look to be in prime position to take the spot vacated by the loser of the Ohio State versus Michigan game. They smoked a not very good Arizona State team on Saturday while Michigan came within a failed two point conversion of their second loss of the season. Edge goes to Washington here.

Beyond that, Oklahoma is the only other “big” mover in the top 10 for us this week. The committee ranked them five spots above West Virginia last week even though OU lacked a quality win. Now they have one. Expect the committee to reward the Sooners with a few extra spots.

The Big 12 getting within striking distance again would shape up for a very interesting championship week in December. There’s always the chance that Clemson or one of the Big 10 schools falters down the stretch. The committee has already shown the guts to put a surprise school into the four slot in prior years. Oklahoma is positioning itself (again) as dark horse playoff contender.

Where does Texas A&M Fit?

How about the Aggies? Texas A&M hung around at number 25 last week and they pulled out a win against UTSA. It wasn’t awe inspiring, but it was a win. They’ll rise a few spots to 23 before taking on an LSU team this week that will likely be ranked around that number after falling to Florida at home.

A win over LSU and A&M could find themselves in the low to mid teens. The Aggies also have a shot at a Sugar Bowl birth which would improve with an Auburn and/or a Tennessee loss. We’re not there yet though. First thing’s first: BTHO LSU.