College Football Playoff: Texas, Penn State join Top 4; Georgia, Miami plummet in rankings

Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Penn State are the Top 4 teams in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, the selection committee announced. Week 11 losers Georgia and Miami plummeted in the rankings.

The No.1. Oregon Ducks (10-0) and No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1) held on to the Top 2 spots in the rankings. The No. 3 Texas Longhorns (8-1) and No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1) replaced the Georgia Bulldogs (7-2) and Miami Hurricanes (9-1) in the Top 4.

"We first start every week with a clean slate," College Football Playoff committee chairman and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said on a conference call.

"We look at the body of work up until that point of every team that we are considering, and obviously we can see when a team loses early or wins a big game early or loses late or wins a big game later in the season. We deal with it as it comes."

The final rankings will be revealed Dec. 8, leading to the first edition of the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Ole Miss Rebels (8-2), who beat the Bulldogs on Saturday in Oxford, Miss., climbed from No. 16 to No. 11. The Bulldogs dropped from No. 3 to No. 12. The Hurricanes dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 as a result of their loss to the unranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-4).

"Both teams are very good from our perspective, but based on the season as well as what they did last week, that's how we made the judgment of how they fell," Manuel said of the Bulldogs and Hurricanes.

The Indiana Hoosiers, who join the Ducks as the only other 10-0 team in the Top 25 rankings, climbed from No. 8 to No. 5. The No. 6 BYU Cougars (9-0), No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers (8-1) and No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1) join the No. 9 Hurricanes and No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2) in the Top 10.

The No. 13 Boise State Broncos (8-1), No. 14 SMU Mustangs (8-1) and No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2) join the No. 11 Rebels and No. 12 Bulldogs in the Top 15.

The unranked Kansas Jayhawks (3-6) upset Iowa State (7-2) on Saturday to boot the Cyclones out of the Top 25. The Cyclones entered that game as the No. 17 team.

The unranked Virginia Cavaliers (5-4) knocked the Pittsburgh Panthers out of the rankings with a 25-19 win Saturday in Pittsburgh. The Panthers (7-2) sat at No. 18 before the loss.

The No. 21 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-3) jumped into the Top 25 with a convincing win over the Vanderbilt Commodores (6-4) on Saturday in Nashville.

The No. 25 Tulane Green Wave (8-2) also climbed into the rankings thanks to a 52-6 thrashing of the Temple Owls (2-7).

Top-ranked Oregon will take on the Wisconsin Badgers (5-4) at 7:30 p.m. EST Saturday in Madison, Wis. The No. 2 Buckeyes will battle the Northwestern Wildcats (4-5) at noon Saturday in Chicago. The No. 3 Longhorns will face the Arkansas Razorbacks (5-4) at noon Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

The No. 11 Bulldogs will host the No. 11 Volunteers in one of the premier matchups of the weekend. That Southeastern Conference affair will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Athens, Ga.

The No. 21 Gamecocks will host the No. 23 Tigers at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in Columbia, S.C.

The third edition of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN. Additional rankings will be revealed Nov. 26, Dec. 3 and Dec. 8. The first game of the College Football Playoff will be held Dec. 20. The national title game will played Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

College Football Playoff rankings for Week 12

1. Oregon (10-0)

2. Ohio State (8-1)

3. Texas (8-1)

4. Penn State (8-1)

5. Indiana (10-0)

6. BYU (9-0)

7. Tennessee (8-1)

8. Notre Dame (8-1)

9. Miami (9-1)

10. Alabama (7-2)

11. Ole Miss (8-2)

12. Georgia (7-2)

13. Boise State (8-1)

14. SMU (8-1)

15. Texas A&M (7-2)

16. Kansas State (7-2)

17. Colorado (7-2)

18. Washington State (8-1)

19. Louisville (6-3)

20. Clemson (7-2)

21. South Carolina (6-3)

22. LSU (6-3)

23. Missouri (7-2)

24. Army (9-0)

25. Tulane (8-2)