Advertisement

Oklahoma, Iowa jump into Top 4 of CFP rankings

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

After a weekend where three undefeated teams suffered their first loss, the College Football Playoff rankings saw a bit of a shake up.

Clemson and Alabama remained in the top two spots, but previously unbeaten teams Ohio State (No. 3 last week) and Oklahoma State (No. 6 last week) dropped from to No. 8 and No. 11 respectively.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Iowa made the leaps into the vaunted Top 4. The Sooners jumped up four spots to No. 3 after knocking off TCU to improve to 10-1 while the Hawkeyes (11-0) moved up one spot to No. 4 by staying undefeated with a win over Purdue.

Coming off its upset over Ohio State, Michigan State (10-1) moved up four spots from No. 9 to No. 5 while Notre Dame (10-1) dropped out of the Top 4 and to No. 6 after an underwhelming performance in a win over Boston College.

The rest of the Top 10 was rounded out by Baylor (9-1) at No. 7, Stanford (9-2) at No. 9 and Michigan (9-2) at No. 10.

While it's certainly getting late in the season, there are still plenty of impactful games left on the slate that could lead to significant movement in the rankings. Oklahoma has a road test at Oklahoma State while Notre Dame can jump back into the mix by beating Stanford on the road. Other games to watch include Baylor-TCU and Ohio State-Michigan.

If Iowa (at Nebraska) and Michigan State (vs. Penn State) take care of business this weekend, their Big Ten Championship showdown could decide who stays in the Top 4 and who drops out.

Other notable movement in the Top 25 included SEC East champion Florida’s descent from No. 8 to No. 12 after barely edging lowly Florida Atlantic in overtime. Additionally, North Carolina jumped up to No. 14 after clinching the ACC Coastal and Northwestern (No. 16), Oregon (No. 17) and Ole Miss (No. 18) each jumped into the Top 20.

Washington State, Mississippi State, UCLA, Toledo and Temple all jumped back into the Top 25 – Washington State for the first time this season – while previously unbeaten Houston dropped out altogether following a loss at UConn after a No. 19 ranking last week.

Among Group of Five schools, Navy, up a spot to No. 15, remains the favorite to find a spot in a New Year’s bowl game.

Here is the full Top 25:

- - - - - - -

Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!