Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.
The ACC and Big 12’s hopes of sending multiple teams to the first 12-team College Football Playoff took a big hit over the weekend.
Miami (Fla.) and Iowa State both lost, greatly damaging their at-large hopes. Meanwhile, Ole Miss’ win at Georgia brought more SEC teams into the Playoff mix rather than knocking one out with a third loss. BYU’s comeback escape at Utah likely didn’t help its at-large case with the committee, either.
At this point, those leagues’ best hope for multiple bids is an upset in their respective conference championship games that doesn’t knock the top team out of the mix either. Those two conferences should also be rooting for Tennessee to beat Georgia next week and hoping Alabama and Ole Miss find a second loss somewhere. The crowd of two-loss SEC teams has the potential to squeeze out not only ACC and Big 12 at-large hopes but a team like Indiana, too, should the Hoosiers lose to Ohio State in overwhelming fashion.
But this isn’t the committee. This is The Athletic 134, and I’m standing by my rankings and not reacting to the initial CFP rankings like poll voters sometimes do.
Here is this week’s edition of The Athletic 134.
1-10
| Rank | Team | Record | Prev |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
10-0 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
8-1 |
3 |
|
|
3 |
8-1 |
5 |
|
|
4 |
9-0 |
6 |
|
|
5 |
8-1 |
7 |
|
|
6 |
8-1 |
8 |
|
|
7 |
10-0 |
9 |
|
|
8 |
7-2 |
13 |
|
|
9 |
8-2 |
16 |
|
|
10 |
7-2 |
2 |
Is BYU the fourth-best team in the country? I don’t know, but they keep pulling out wins, and they still have two victories over top-20 teams in SMU and Kansas State. That’s a good resume. Should Tennessee be higher than the Cougars with its loss to Arkansas or should Penn State and Indiana be higher without a top-25 win? Right now, I don’t really think so.
Indiana moves up from No. 9 to No. 7 thanks to losses by Georgia and Miami, but the Hoosiers barely held on for a 20-15 win against a Michigan team that pushed them around a bit in the second half. I think Indiana should be safe for a CFP spot as long as it beats Purdue, but a blowout loss to Ohio State could start a conversation. We’ll see what happens in two weeks.
Alabama jumps from No. 13 to No. 8 after whipping LSU on the road, while Ole Miss climbs from No. 16 to No. 9 after handling Georgia. The Bulldogs are suddenly barely hanging on to a spot in the CFP, and they’ve lost to both Alabama and Ole Miss. Alabama stays ahead of Ole Miss here because of their performances against LSU, which beat Ole Miss.
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11-25
Notre Dame actually inches out of my CFP field after Alabama and Ole Miss move up. The Irish might be another team hoping the SEC knocks some of its teams out, depending on what the committee shows on Tuesday.
SMU is my new ACC leader at No. 12 and in position for the No. 4 seed. The problem with Miami’s weak resume was that it couldn’t afford a bad loss, and it took one against Georgia Tech, dropping from No. 4 to No. 14. Miami’s best wins include Louisville and … Duke? Its early-season escapes against Cal and Virginia Tech don’t help. SMU also has wins against Louisville and Duke, plus its Pitt win (which doesn’t mean as much this week), and its lone loss is to undefeated BYU.
Colorado is up to No. 17 and controls its path to the Big 12 title game and a CFP spot after Saturday’s win at Texas Tech. Washington State is 8-1 and up to No. 18, but the path to an at-large spot might be just too far away. Still, the Cougars are having a great season and should feel good about it.
South Carolina jumps up to No. 20 after a dominant win against Vanderbilt. Army is also newly into this group at No. 22 after beating North Texas 14-3. The Black Knights went from zero wins against teams with a winning record to two over the weekend, thanks to this game and East Carolina’s win elsewhere. Arizona State grabs the No. 25 spot after beating UCF to move to 7-2.
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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Alabama got its act together and looks Playoff bound … again
26-50
Tulane has quietly been rolling and is up to No. 26, very much in the race for the Group of 5’s guaranteed Playoff bid if Boise State stumbles. Iowa State falls to No. 27 after a loss to Kansas, while Pitt drops to No. 28 after losing to Virginia, the second consecutive loss for both teams. 8-1 Louisiana might be too far behind to challenge for the G5 spot in the CFP, especially since its one loss was to Tulane, but the Ragin’ Cajuns look like the best team in the Sun Belt and are having a really good season, now up to No. 31.
Georgia Tech jumps up to No. 32 after beating Miami. Syracuse falls to No. 40 after losing to Boston College, while Iowa drops to No. 41 after a loss at UCLA. West Virginia’s win against Cincinnati sees the Mountaineers climb to No. 46.
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Week 11 CFP race lessons: Mizzou in the ‘Playoff hunt’? One-bid ACC?
51-75
UCLA has really turned things around, winning three consecutive games and rising to No. 57 after sitting near the bottom of the Power 4 not long ago. NC State slips to No. 64 after losing to Duke. Kansas jumps up from No. 85 to No. 65 thanks to its win against Iowa State. No. 71 UConn is 7-3, its most wins since the Fiesta Bowl season of 2010, after beating UAB.
76-100
San Jose State’s win against Oregon State moves the Spartans up to No. 79 and the Beavers down to No. 80. Jacksonville State, No. 81, scored on a Hail Mary against Louisiana Tech and missed the game-winning extra point but won in overtime anyway to stay tied atop the Conference USA standings.
Oklahoma State’s collapse continued with a 38-13 loss to TCU, making it seven consecutive losses for the Cowboys, who have fallen to No. 85. Texas State beat ULM to move up to No. 84. The MAC pack continues, as Miami (Ohio), Ohio and Bowling Green all won, and Northern Illinois handed Western Michigan its first MAC defeat. Four teams are tied atop the conference standings at 4-1.
Has East Carolina turned things around since firing head coach Mike Houston? The Pirates are 2-0 under interim coach Blake Harrell and have scored a combined 105 points in wins against Temple and FAU, moving up to No. 97.
101-134
I haven’t become numb to seeing Florida State lose every week, now down to No. 103 after a 52-3 loss to Notre Dame. It’s still shocking every time. Mike Norvell got moving early in cleaning house, announcing Sunday that both coordinators had been fired. New Mexico is 4-6 and up to No. 109 after beating San Diego State. Nevada might be the best 3-8 team in the country — the Wolf Pack have now pushed SMU and Boise State to the limit in defeat this season.
Air Force beat Fresno State to move up to No. 126, and in a battle of one-win teams, UTEP beat Kennesaw State in overtime, leading to a coaching change at Kennesaw State. Kent State lost 41-0 to Ohio and remains winless and at the bottom of the rankings.
The Athletic 134 series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Photo: Justin Ford / Getty Images)