New College Football Playoff Rankings for Week 11: Georgia, Ohio State take the lead

Your look at the updated College Football Playoff rankings ahead of the Week 11 schedule of games this Saturday

A few days after wild and impactful weekend of games, the new College Football Playoff rankings feature a new look in the top four heading into Week 11.

Two of the previous top four teams — No. 1 Tennessee and No. 4 Clemson — lost in ugly performances on the road, to Georgia and Notre Dame, respectively, while Alabama probably dropped out of playoff contention for good by losing its second game of the season, on the road against a resurgent LSU.

Ohio State and Michigan stayed undefeated and, provided they can stay that way until The Game later this month, the winner is in prime position to finish as a no-loss Big Ten champion and a potential lock for the No. 2 seed in the playoff.

Here's your look at the updated CFP rankings ahead of this weekend.

College Football Playoff Rankings for Week 11

The latest College Football Playoff rankings are official / USA Today Images

10. Clemson (Down 6). The ugly loss to Notre Dame is costly for the current ACC favorites, but still not enough to drop the Tigers out of the top 10, especially given that loss looks a little better now that the Irish are moving up the rankings. Still, it's hard to see a path where Clemson gets back to the playoff.

9. Alabama (Down 3). That loss at LSU didn't cost the Crimson Tide too dearly, a ranking that will cause some controversy among non-SEC fans, but the committee clearly still believes in Alabama's roster, despite this season's struggles.

8. USC (Up 1). Still just one point away from being undefeated, the Trojans are a mixed bag of brilliant offense led by a cast of stars at the skill positions and a very patchy defense that, while aggressive taking the ball away early this season, has also kept inferior Pac-12 teams in a lot of these games, especially a not-great Cal team this past week at home.

7. LSU (Up 3). Beating Alabama, however "down" the Crimson Tide looks, is still the definition of a quality win for the selection committee, who have all it needs to jump the SEC West favorites above the Trojans. Could we see a two-loss team make the playoff for the first time? 

Outside looking in

6. Oregon (Up 2). Imagine where the Ducks could have been ranked this week if they didn't schedule Georgia for the season opener. Still, despite that 49-3 thrashing, this is still the top team in the Pac-12 title hunt, winning eight straight games and scoring over 40 points in each of those wins. Bo Nix is on a tear, throwing for 22 touchdowns against three picks while running for 13 scores in that time.

5. Tennessee (Down 4). College football's top offense that had run through everything on its schedule had no answer for Georgia's sweltering front seven alignment and didn't score a TD until it didn't matter. A somewhat surprising effort from the Vols, and one that keeps them on the outside of the playoff hunt, but still within striking distance owing to what the committee will regard as a "quality loss," better than anything a team in a conference not named the SEC can boast.

Who's in?

4. TCU (Up 3). Had the Volunteers looked better in the loss at Georgia, the committee would have had an argument ready to keep them in the top four and keep TCU out. But the selectors went with the last undefeated team in the Big 12, and one that faces a huge test this weekend at Texas to hold onto this ranking.

3. Michigan (Up 2). You could make a convincing case that this is actually the most complete team in the Big Ten when judging Michigan's total capacity to move the ball and stop teams on the other side, fielding the No. 2 overall defense in college football, the No. 4 rushing offense, and is second with 29 rushing touchdowns. UM played Rutgers close early last weekend, even trailing at halftime, but exploded after the break to stay undefeated.

2. Ohio State (No change). Critics will argue the weather wasn't entirely to blame for the Buckeyes' close win at Northwestern as much as just a generally poor performance, especially at the lines, where OSU wasn't as physical as it could have been. But it's hard to budge the No. 2 team in the country considering how good it's looked up to now and yet to lose a game.

1. Georgia (Up 2). No debates over the top team in the College Football Playoff rankings this week after the defending CFP champion took it to the former No. 1 Vols, grounding the nation's top scoring attack behind a sweltering defensive performance and unleashing its own big-play targets in a huge first half showing. Georgia is the easy favorite to win the SEC East and a practical lock to return to the playoff.

The full CFP top 25 rankings

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. TCU
5. Tennessee
6. Oregon
7. LSU
8. USC
9. Alabama
10. Clemson
11. Ole Miss
12. UCLA
13. Utah
14. Penn State
15. North Carolina
16. NC State
17. Tulane
18. Texas
19. Kansas State
20. Notre Dame
21. Illinois
22. UCF
23. Florida State
24. Kentucky
25. Washington

College Football Playoff Rankings Criteria

College Football Playoff selectors create top 25 rankings based on their evaluation of teams’ performance on the field.

The committee employs several metrics to select the best teams.

• Strength of schedule
• Head-to-head game results
• Results vs. teams in top 25 rankings
• Results vs. common opponents
• Conference championships

College Football Playoff electors also use advanced analytics to gauge teams’ play, but those numbers don’t play a formal role in the committee creating its top 25 rankings.

College Football Playoff 2022-23 Schedule

Dec. 31, 2022 Fiesta Bowl

Dec. 31, 2022 Peach Bowl

Jan. 9, 2023 National Championship

This is the ninth year that college football has a playoff system, which replaced the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS) ahead of the 2014 season.

Ohio State won the first championship under the current system. Alabama (2015, ’17, ’20) and Clemson (2016 and ’18) are the only programs to win multiple titles in the playoff era.

Here's a rundown of every College Football Playoff to date.

2014

Rose Bowl — No. 2 Oregon 59, No. 3 Florida State 20

Sugar Bowl — No. 4 Ohio State 42, No. 1 Alabama 35

CFP National Championship — No. 4 Ohio State 42, No. 2 Oregon 20

2015

Orange Bowl — No. 1 Clemson 37, No. 4 Oklahoma 17

Cotton Bowl — No. 2 Alabama 38, No. 3 Michigan State 0

CFP National Championship — No. 2 Alabama 45, No. 1 Clemson 40

2016

Fiesta Bowl — No. 2 Clemson 31, No. 3 Ohio State 0

Peach Bowl — No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 4 Washington 7

CFP National Championship — No. 2 Clemson 35, No. 1 Alabama 31

2017

Rose Bowl — No. 3 Georgia 54, No. 2 Oklahoma 48 ( 2 OT)

Sugar Bowl — No. 4 Alabama 24, No. 1 Clemson 6

CFP National Championship — No. 4 Alabama 26, No. 3 Georgia (OT)

2018

Orange Bowl — No. 1 Alabama 45, No. 4 Oklahoma 34

Cotton Bowl — No. 2 Clemson 30, No. 3 Notre Dame 3

CFP National Championship — No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16

2019

Peach Bowl — No. 1 LSU 63, No. 4 Oklahoma 28

Fiesta Bowl — No. 3 Clemson 29, No. 2 Ohio State 23

CFP National Championship — No. 1 LSU 42, No. 3 Clemson 25

2020

Rose Bowl — No. 1 Alabama 31, No. 4 Notre Dame 14

Sugar Bowl — No. 3 Ohio State 49, No. 2 Clemson 28

CFP National Championship — No. 1 Alabama 52, No. 3 Ohio State 24

2021

Cotton Bowl — No. 1 Alabama 27, No. 4 Cincinnati 6

Orange Bowl — No. 3 Georgia 34, No. 2 Michigan 11

CFP National Championship — No. 3 Georgia 33, No. 1 Alabama 18

College Football Playoff Rankings History

Let's look at every final Top 4 College Football Playoff rankings, with the eventual national champion listed in bold.

2014-15

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State

2015-16

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Michigan State
4. Oklahoma

2016-17

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

2017-18

1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Alabama

2018-19

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. Oklahoma

2019-20

1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Oklahoma

2020-21

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame

2021-22

1. Alabama
2. Michigan
3. Georgia
4. Cincinnati

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