College Football Playoff: Top Four Remain the Same, Aggies Unranked

There was no change to the top four in the college football playoff rankings this week as Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, and Clemson remained in playoff position.

We gave our best guess at predicting the top four. In our ranks, we had Washington jumping Michigan, but it looks like the committee kept things relatively quiet at the top of the rankings this week.

Louisville dropped to number 11 after a road loss at Houston, effectively ending their playoff aspirations. As good as Lamar Jackson had been all year, he wasn’t able to overcome one bad night. Making the playoffs ins’t easy.

Week 13 College Football Playoff Rankings

Rank	Team, Record	Conference	Prev week	Week 12 result
1	Alabama, 11-0	SEC	1	W vs. Chattanooga, 31-3
2	Ohio State, 10-1	Big Ten	2	W at Michigan State, 17-16
3	Michigan, 10-1	Big Ten	3	W vs. Indiana, 20-10
4	Clemson, 10-1	ACC	4	W at Wake Forest, 35-13
5	Washington, 10-1	Pac-12	6	W vs. Arizona State, 44-18
6	Wisconsin, 9-2	Big Ten	7	W at Purdue, 49-20
7	Penn State, 9-2	Big Ten	8	W at Rutgers, 39-0
8	Oklahoma, 9-2	Big 12	9	W at WVU, 56-28
9	Colorado, 9-2	Pac-12	10	W vs. WSU, 38-24
10	Oklahoma State, 9-2	Big 12	11	W at TCU, 31-6
11	Louisville, 9-2	ACC	5	L at Houston, 36-10
12	USC, 8-3	Pac-12	13	W at UCLA, 36-14
13	Auburn, 8-3	SEC	15	W vs. Alabama A&M, 55-0
14	Florida State, 8-3	ACC	17	W at Syracuse, 45-14
15	Florida, 8-2	SEC	23	W at LSU, 16-10
16	Nebraska, 9-2	Big Ten	18	W vs. Maryland, 28-7
17	Tennessee, 8-3	SEC	19	W vs. Missouri, 63-37
18	West Virginia, 8-2	Big 12	14	L vs. Oklahoma, 56-28
19	Boise State, 10-1	MWC	20	W vs. UNLV, 42-25
20	Houston, 9-2	AAC	NR	W vs. Louisville, 36-10
21	Western Michigan, 11-0	MAC	21	W vs. Buffalo, 38-0
22	Utah, 8-3	Pac-12	12	L vs. Oregon, 30-28
23	Washington State, 8-3	Pac-12	22	L at Colorado, 38-24
24	Stanford, 8-3	Pac-12	24	W at Cal, 45-31
25	Navy, 8-2	AAC	NR	W at ECU, 66-31

Takeaways

Did you see the Aggies in those rankings? Nope. You also didn’t see LSU either. After starting last week among the top 25, both programs were penalized for poor performances last weekend. Story lines can change quickly. At one point, this weekend’s match up had national championship implications. Now it’ll be lucky to factor in to a Sugar Bowl bid.

The University of Houston and Navy both jumped the Aggies and the Tigers. With LSU falling out of the ranks there are no more four loss teams in the top 25. No. 13 Auburn, No. 15 Florida, and No. 17 Tennessee round out the SEC representation in the top 25.

Not being ranked at all make this week doesn’t bode well for any hopes of a New Year’s Six bowl bid for Texas A&M. Auburn (at Alabama), Tennessee (at Vanderbilt), and Florida (at Florida State) could all lose this weekend. But as the Aggies saw two weeks ago against Ole Miss, it doesn’t matter who else loses if you don’t take care of business. All that they can do on Thursday night is win and see what happens.