The third College Football Playoff Rankings of the 2021 season have been released by the selection committee, and the top seven remains unchanged.
Georgia is followed by Alabama (2), Oregon (3), Ohio State (4), and Cincinnati (5). Michigan (6) and Michigan State (7) are just outside the top five.
Fifth-ranked Cincinnati remains the highest ranked team from a Group of Five conference. BYU is the next highest non-power team at No. 14.
Auburn and Purdue both fell out of the College Football Playoff Rankings this week following defeats on Saturday.
Check out the full CFP Top 25 rankings below:
College Football Playoff Rankings (Nov. 16)
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Oregon
4. Ohio State
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan
7. Michigan State
8. Notre Dame
9. Oklahoma State
10. Wake Forest
11. Baylor
12. Ole Miss
13. Oklahoma
14. BYU
15. Wisconsin
16. Texas A&M
17. Iowa
18. Pitt
19. San Diego State
20. NC State
21. Arkansas
22. UTSA
23. Utah
24. Houston
25. Mississippi State
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will release their Top 25 rankings each week on Tuesday through Nov. 30. Below is the schedule of dates (all times Eastern):
- Tuesday, Nov. 23 – 7:00pm ET
- Tuesday, Nov. 30 – 7:00pm ET
- Sunday, Dec. 5 – Noon ET (Selection Day)
On Sunday, Dec. 5 at Noon ET, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee will announce the Playoff Semifinal pairings and semifinal bowl assignments. Those will be followed by the pairings for the remainder of the New Year’s Six bowl games.
College Football Playoff Schedule
I enjoyed the Mississippi State comeback against Auburn as much as any Bulldog fan this past Saturday, but to be 6-4 with losses to Memphis and LSU and get in the CFP Top 25? As much as I would believe that UL-Lafayette should be there at 9-1, a better argument is Kansas State at 7-3 with their three losses fairly close to Iowa State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Mississippi State hosts Tennessee Tech this week; Kansas State hosts Baylor and K-State should leap frog Mississippi State if the Wildcats win this week.
I do believe there is bias against Group of Five schools making the final four but, Cincinnati should be #5 for the moment. The win at Notre Dame will likely carry better weight for them as the season goes on. If Cincinnati wins out and if that concludes a win in the AAC title game against presently CFP #24 Houston, (if they are still ranked at the time of the title game) they should be CFP #4.
Armchariqb: I agree with your comments on Cincinnati…however, I am concerned they will remain at #5 if Oregon wins out and there is a one-loss Big 10 champion.
Cincy needs Bama to lose to Georgia.
A Oregeon loss/2 lose big ten champ would definitely help as well.