Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson follow No. 1 Alabama in Playoff rankings

There’s an all-Big Ten semifinal in the College Football Playoff. As of now, anyway.

A week after the teams ranked Nos. 2, 3 and 4 lost, Ohio State vaulted to No. 2 in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings. Michigan, which was No. 3 last week, held serve in the same spot while Clemson fell from No. 2 to No. 4.

The likelihood of Michigan and Ohio State facing each other in the Playoff is, of course, very small. The hated rivals face off on Nov. 26. Assuming neither team loses on Saturday, the winner will remain in the top four while the loser will likely fall out.

Michigan’s loss Saturday came on the road at Iowa. CFP selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said shortly after the rankings were released that the committee viewed the Wolverines’ three wins over current top 10 teams favorably. Michigan has beaten No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Penn State and No. 10 Colorado.

Clemson lost at home to Pitt on Saturday and stayed ahead of No. 5 Louisville because of its head-to-head win over the Cardinals. Clemson beat Louisville on Oct. 1 at home.

Washington fell two spots to No. 6 after losing to USC at home on Saturday. USC jumped from No. 20 to No. 13. The Trojans are ahead of one-loss West Virginia, a team that’s somehow still outside the top 10. While it’s inexplicable that the Mountaineers are No. 14, any aggravation from the WVU fanbase shouldn’t last very long. West Virginia hosts No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday. A win vaults WVU into the top 10, though the logic of having OU so much further up is a bit confusing. Oklahoma hasn’t beaten a top-25 team either.

“Oklahoma is a team that has a tremendous offense,” Hocutt said. “They’ve continued to bounce back from two early- season losses. They’re on a seven-game winning streak. The committee believes that Oklahoma is deserving of that 9 spot, and still looking at West Virginia to get a quality win.”

Further down the rankings, the battle for the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six bowl games just got a whole lot more interesting. One-loss Boise State jumped over undefeated Western Michigan this week. While Boise has a win over No. 22 Washingon State, the rankings leap comes just after Wyoming’s loss to UNLV. Wyoming is the only team to beat Boise State.

The Cowboys still control the Mountain West’s Mountain division too, so Boise State could miss out on the MWC title game. Given this week’s rankings, Western Michigan needs that to happen.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Clemson
5. Louisville
6. Washington
7. Wisconsin
8. Penn State
9. Oklahoma
10. Colorado
11. Oklahoma State
12. Utah
13. USC
14. West Virginia
15. Auburn
16. LSU
17. Florida State
18. Nebraska
19. Tennessee
20. Boise State
21. Western Michigan
22. Washington State
23. Florida
24. Stanford
25. Texas A&M

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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