College football rankings: Coaches Poll top 25 for Championship Week announced
Rivalry Week promised to sort things out, and it certainly lived up to that reputation after a crazy Saturday of games that separated the contenders from the pretenders, and now it's time to get a look at the updated college football rankings.
Out of the picture? Ohio State and Clemson, after suffering costly upset losses at home to rivals, Michigan and South Carolina, respectively, as the Wolverines once again stepped over the Buckeyes en route to a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game. And from there, the likely No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff.
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LSU looks out, too, despite an otherwise excellent debut season for coach Brian Kelly that included a win over Alabama, but also a surprise loss at unranked Texas A&M in the finale that drops the Tigers to three losses, but still a shot at Georgia in this weekend's SEC Championship Game.
Still in the race? Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and now USC, which is coming off a major win over rival Notre Dame and has one final hurdle, against Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, to earn a spot in the semifinal in Lincoln Riley's debut season.
Here's your look at the updated top 25 rankings heading into the conference championship slate, according to the coaches' vote.
College football rankings: Coaches Poll top 25 announced for Championship Saturday
The updated Coaches Poll top 25 college football rankings
- Georgia (60 1st-place votes)
- Michigan (3)
- TCU
- USC
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Penn State
- Tennessee
- Washington
- Kansas State
- Clemson
- Utah
- LSU
- Florida State
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- UCLA
- Tulane
- Notre Dame
- South Carolina
- Texas
- North Carolina
- UCF
- UTSA
- Mississippi State
Others receiving votes
Ole Miss 83; Troy 58; NC State 58; Cincinnati 49; Boise State 37; Purdue 36; Pittsburgh 36; Coastal Carolina 26; Air Force 19; South Alabama 15; Illinois 10; Minnesota 7; Duke 7; Iowa 6; James Madison 2; Fresno State 2; Wake Forest 1.
Coaches Poll top 25 biggest movers
South Carolina (Up 8). Two straight wins over AP top 10 ranked teams and knocking both out of the College Football Playoff (Tennessee, Clemson) is good for a jump in the rankings.
Ohio State (Down 3). Another loss to Michigan has this rivalry going in the other direction and has the Buckeyes likely out of the playoff again.
Mississippi State (Up 16). MSU moved into third in the SEC West after knocking off rival Ole Miss on Thanksgiving.
LSU (Down 7). A surprise loss at unranked Texas A&M drops the Tigers to three losses, but still with a date in the SEC Championship Game.
Oregon State (Up 6). Beating rival Oregon helps propel the Beavers to a nine-win season and likely a solid bowl game to finish off.
Top 25 teams that fell out of the rankings: No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 21 Cincinnati, and No. 23 Coastal Carolina
College football top 25 losers
Rankings reflect most recent College Football Playoff poll
No. 2 Ohio State. So long, Buckeyes, after another bad loss to rival Michigan defined by sloppy defense and coaching miscues. But is OSU out of the playoff? It seems so, but there's still plenty of potential chaos in the rankings until then.
No. 5 LSU. There was an outside chance that LSU could make the playoff if it beat Georgia in the SEC title game with two losses, but a third L, a stunner on the road to Texas A&M, ended that talk.
No. 8 Clemson. Likewise for the Tigers, who, though already clinched a spot in the ACC Championship Game, dropped a costly second loss at home to unranked South Carolina that likely pushes them out of the semifinal push.
No. 9 Oregon. Two out of the last three are losses for the Ducks, who couldn't keep it going after winning eight straight midseason, losing at Oregon State and getting dumped from Pac-12 title contention.
No. 15 Notre Dame. That five-game win streak is over after a hard-fought game at USC, but the Irish got very efficient play from quarterback Drew Pyne, something to build on for the bowl and next season.
No. 17 North Carolina. The Tar Heels dropped a second straight game to close out the regular season ahead of the matchup with Clemson in the ACC title game.
No. 20 Ole Miss. That's three straight losses and four out of five overall to sink the Rebels after a 7-0 start, but at least the school will keep Lane Kiffin, who appears to finally be out of the mix for the Auburn job.
No. 24 Cincinnati. The 32-game home win streak is history after Tulane knocked the Bearcats out of the AAC Championship Game chase. And now there are reports that Wisconsin is pursuing UC coach Luke Fickell.
No. 25 Louisville. An offense that was performing well slipped into neutral against a Kentucky team that had lost five of its last seven.
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