On the field, the College Football Playoff race did not change much over Thanksgiving weekend. Northwestern, No. 8 in the committee’s first rankings, suffered its first loss to Michigan State, as did Oregon, which debuted at No. 15, to Oregon State, but neither seemed all that likely to make it regardless.
Off the field, though, 4-0 Ohio State, ranked No. 4 by the committee, had to cancel its game at Illinois due to a mounting COVID-19 outbreak, and the status of its game next week against Michigan State is now in jeopardy. That’s significant, because the Buckeyes previously had their game against Maryland scrapped. One more cancellation and they won’t reach the Big Ten’s six-game minimum to be eligible for the conference championship game.
That would be quite the headache for both the conference and the Playoff selection committee, if the Big Ten’s clear best team won’t be its champion. League titles are considered a tiebreaker if the committee considers two teams to be comparable. Ohio State is in good shape for now, but its prospects would get more complicated if, for example, No. 6 Florida upsets No. 1 Alabama in the SEC title game, and/or No. 2 Notre Dame loses its rematch with No. 3 Clemson in the ACC championship. Dec. 19 could be quite eventful.
The committee will release its new rankings Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
College Football Playoff Rankings
|
Team ▲ |
YPP diff (Rank)
|
PPG diff (Rank)
|
Next
|
|---|---|---|---|
 1. Alabama (8-0) |
2.93 (2) |
30.0 (2) |
Sat. at LSU |
 2. Notre Dame (9-0) |
1.49 (16) |
20.2 (10) |
Sat. vs. SYR |
 3. Clemson (8-1) |
1.89 (7) |
26.9 (4) |
Sat. at VT |
 4. Ohio State (4-0) |
1.34 (18) |
19.3 (11) |
Sat. at MSU |
 5. Texas A&M (6-1) |
1.01 (28) |
9.0 (37T) |
Sat. at 22 AUB |
 6. Florida (7-1) |
1.65 (12) |
17.5 (14) |
Sat. at TENN |
 7. Cincinnati (8-0) |
2.69 (3) |
25.9 (6) |
Dec. 12 at 25 TLSA |
 8. Northwestern (5-1) |
-0.09 (70) |
9.5 (32T) |
Sat. at MINN |
 9. Georgia (6-2) |
0.83 (35) |
10.7 (26) |
Sat. vs. VAN |
 10. Miami (7-1) |
0.46 (47) |
8.5 (41) |
Dec. 12 vs. 19 UNC |
 11. Oklahoma (6-2) |
1.76 (10) |
22.5 (7) |
Sat. vs. BAY |
 12. Indiana (5-1) |
-0.19 (78) |
11.1 (25) |
Sat. at 16 WIS |
 13. Iowa State (7-2) |
1.16 (22) |
10.1 (29) |
Sat. vs. WVU |
 14. BYU (9-0) |
3.14 (1) |
33.7 (1) |
Dec. 12 vs. SDSU |
 15. Oregon (3-1) |
1.14 (23) |
8.7 (39T) |
Sat. at CAL |
 16. Wisconsin (2-1) |
1.12 (24) |
22.0 (8) |
Sat. vs. 12 IND |
 17. Texas (5-3) |
0.81 (36) |
9.0 (37T) |
Sat. at KSU |
 18. USC (3-0) |
0.14 (53) |
7.0 (47T) |
Thu. vs. WSU |
 19. North Carolina (6-3) |
0.09 (57) |
0.5 (65T) |
Sat. vs. WCU |
 20. Coastal Carolina (9-0) |
1.56 (14) |
21.9 (9) |
Sat. vs. LIB |
 21. Marshall (7-0) |
2.13 (6) |
27.3 (3) |
Sat. vs. RICE |
 22. Auburn (5-3) |
-0.08 (69) |
2.1 (59T) |
Sat. vs. 5 TA&M |
 23. Oklahoma State (6-2) |
-0.03 (63) |
4.9 (51) |
Sat. at TCU |
 24. Iowa (4-2) |
0.73 (39) |
15.1 (15) |
Sat. at ILL |
 25. Tulsa (5-1) |
1.03 (27) |
7.0 (47T) |
Sat. at NAVY |
Rankings as of Nov. 24; YPP and PPG as of Nov. 29
Editor’s note: Yards per play differential and points per game differential are included to aid in the comparison of teams in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Yards per play differential is a metric that negates pace of play and is commonly used by Las Vegas oddsmakers to evaluate overall team strength. Points per game differential is a crude measure of a team’s average dominance game to game.)
Three games to watch this week
AP No. 1 Alabama at LSU, 8 p.m. ET Saturday, CBS: This rescheduled CBS primetime game is usually one of the most-watched of the season, but this year, you will likely be watching solely to see whether Alabama will win by 30 points or 40 points.
AP No. 5 Texas A&M at Auburn, Noon ET Saturday, ESPN: The Aggies’ offense struggled in a 20-7 win over LSU last week, but Auburn struggled at everything in a 42-13 loss to No. 1 Alabama. Will the Aggies take care of business, or does Auburn have some Jordan-Hare magic in store?
AP No. 4 Clemson at Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, ABC: It’s Clemson’s first trip to Blacksburg since a 2017 meeting when both teams were ranked in the top 12. (The Tigers won 31-17.) The Hokies were ranked again earlier this season but have lost three in a row to fall to 4-5.
The Athletic’s Jason Starrett and Daniel Uthman contributed.
(Photo of Ohio State’s Justin Fields: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)
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