Our Clients:

Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Nov 19, 2019 5:40 pm

Status quo in CFP rankings while Alabama regroups

The top seven spots in the College Football Playoffs rankings remained unchanged Tuesday night, with the selection committee taking a wait-and-see approach with No. 5 Alabama, which will be without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the rest of the season.

LSU (10-1) remains No. 1 in the third rankings of the season, followed by Ohio State (10-0), Clemson (11-0) and Georgia (9-1).

No negative Tua impact – yet

Tua Tagovailoa
Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

“Our job is to evaluate the teams through Week 12,” said selection committee chairman Rob Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon.

“Obviously, we’re aware of the injury to the quarterback late in the second quarter of last week’s game, but Alabama continued on to a convincing win in that, so it didn’t impact the rankings this week.”

Tagovailoa suffered a dislocated hip late in the first half, when Alabama was up 35-7 at Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide finished with a 38-7 win.

Alabama, which turns to sophomore Mac Jones at quarterback, plays FCS opponent Western Carolina this week in its home finale before finishing the regular-season at rival Auburn. The Tide (9-1) have appeared in all five College Football Playoffs — winning after the 2015 and 2018 seasons — but would need to win out and then get some help to make the final four this season.

Oregon (9-1) is sixth, with Utah (9-1), Penn State (9-1), Oklahoma (9-1) and Minnesota (9-1) rounding out the top 10.

“There is a lot of discussion in four through six,” Mullens said. “Georgia added to their resume with an impressive win at Auburn, and Oregon went on to an easy win against Arizona. There is a lot of debate, a lot of discussion, among all those teams.”

Penn State can throw a wrench in things

Justin Fields
Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

The key matchup nationally this week is Penn State at Ohio State. The Buckeyes can clinch the Big Ten East with a win.

There was a flip in the highest-rated team from the Group of Five conferences (American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt). The committee last week had Cincinnati (9-1) at No. 17 and Memphis (9-1) at No. 18, but while the Tigers held their spot this week, the Bearcats dropped to 19th after needing a last-play field goal to win 20-17 at South Florida.

It doesn’t matter much right now as the teams will meet in Memphis on Nov. 29 — and perhaps again in the American Athletic Conference title game. The highest-ranked team among the Group of Five conferences earns a spot in a New Year’s Six Bowl, which this season will be the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas.

Texas, Navy and Kansas State dropped out this week after losses. Newcomers are No. 22 Iowa State, No. 23 USC and No. 25 SMU.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)

You may also like

Apr 27, 2022 8:57 am

Giants go for 2-game sweep of crosstown rival A’s

The San Francisco Giants will look to further close the gap in their all-time rivalry with the visiting Oakland Athletics when they seek a second straight win Wednesday night in…

Apr 27, 2022 8:42 am

Guardians, slumping Franmil Reyes take on Shohei Ohtani’s Angels

The Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels will play the third game of their four-game series Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif., as the Guardians try to rediscover their offense. Cleveland’s…

Apr 27, 2022 8:35 am

Playoff-bound Kings seek to keep Kraken reeling

The Los Angeles Kings are playoff-bound for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Kings (43-27-10, 96 points) punched their postseason ticket Tuesday night when Dallas defeated Vegas in…

More Archive News

Apr 27, 2022 8:57 am

Giants go for 2-game sweep of crosstown rival A’s

The San Francisco Giants will look to further close the gap in their all-time rivalry with the visiting Oakland Athletics when they seek a second straight win Wednesday night in…

Apr 27, 2022 8:42 am

Guardians, slumping Franmil Reyes take on Shohei Ohtani’s Angels

Apr 27, 2022 8:35 am

Playoff-bound Kings seek to keep Kraken reeling

Apr 27, 2022 8:17 am

Six-man rotation kicks in as Astros, Cristian Javier face Rangers

Apr 27, 2022 8:08 am

Jason Robertson, Stars can lock up playoff berth vs. Coyotes

Read all
fb-post
advertisment
title-icon

Upcoming events

See all odds