Washington joins Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan atop CFP rankings
By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer
Washington leapfrogged Florida State into the No. 4 spot in the latest College Football Playoff rankings that were released on Tuesday, after beating its third straight ranked opponent this past weekend.
While the selection committee’s top three remained unchanged – Georgia (11-0) is still No. 1, followed by Ohio State (11-0) at No. 2 and Michigan (11-0) at No. 3 – Washington (11-0) moved into the top four for the first time this season and Florida State (11-0) fell to No. 5 after losing quarterback Jordan Travis for the season.
The Huskies had been stuck in fifth for the first three weeks of the rankings, but they beat then-No. 12 Oregon State, 22-20, this past weekend, after wins over then-No. 18 Utah and then-No. 20 USC. Though Utah and USC are no longer ranked, Washington is now No. 1 in ESPN’s strength-of-record metric. Florida State is No. 4 in that same metric.
The Seminoles played an FCS team – North Alabama – last weekend, overcoming an early 13-0 deficit to win, 58-13. But the score and result hardly mattered after losing Travis to a lower-leg injury – and how the committee views that injury will be a source of intrigue in the weeks to come.
“It really was about what Washington did this past weekend,” CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan said during the rankings reveal show.
The committee is instructed to consider how losing a key player impacts a team, and Travis is a Heisman Trophy contender and one of the most important players in the country, but Corrigan said the Travis injury did not have any impact on the committee’s decision
“That’s what the next couple of weeks are going to be about,” said Corrigan, who is the athletic director at North Carolina State. “The key is not projecting what it will be the following week.”
Florida State plays at rival Florida on Saturday with Tate Rodemaker as its starting quarterback and then has the ACC championship game against No. 10 Louisville on Dec. 2 in Charlotte.
Rodemaker, a fourth-year player, completed 13 of 23 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns in relief of Travis. He has five touchdown passes and no interceptions in 31 pass attempts this season.
“Didn’t shock anybody that was on our team because we’ve seen him do that before,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said earlier this week about Rodemaker. “It’s the same message that I’ve had for them for however many, three years now. You get your opportunity, just go be you. I’ve got the utmost confidence in what he’ll do.”
On Monday, Norvell told reporters he was not worried about what the committee would do this week with its ranking.
“I didn’t care three, four weeks ago what our ranking was, I sure don’t care what our ranking’s going to be this week,” Norvell said. “We’ve done things necessary to show who we are, and we get an opportunity to show how we respond to adversity, to an unfortunate situation, but this is one heck of a football team. I can promise you our guys are going to work as hard we possibly can to get better.
“We get to go on the road, big rivalry game, big week for us, and the next week we get a chance to play in a conference championship. I know that if we go and show all that we are, the ranking in the end that truly matters, we’ll put ourselves in position to achieve all the things that we ultimately desire.”
There is sure to be more shifting next week with a showdown between rivals Ohio State and Michigan looming on Saturday. One of those teams will end up with a loss and no chance to play for a Big Ten championship. The question for Florida State is whether an undefeated season – with Travis on the sideline – will still be enough to make the four-team playoff.
The final rankings will be revealed on Dec. 3, when the field for the four-team playoff is set.
“After the (conference) championship games we can look at who’s going to be available and who’s not going to be available,” Corrigan said.
The three one-loss teams behind Florida State in the top 10 remain unchanged: Oregon (10-1) at No. 6, Texas (10-1) at No. 7 and Alabama (10-1) at No. 8. All three have huge games looming as well. The Ducks have Oregon State (8-3), which dropped to No. 16, while Texas has Texas Tech on Friday with a chance to clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game. Alabama has rival Auburn and then the SEC championship game against Georgia.
Tulane (10-1) remains the highest-ranked Group of Five team at No. 23, though Liberty (11-0) joined the rankings this week at No. 25. Also joining the rankings this week are two schools familiar to Florida State: North Carolina State (8-3) at No. 22 and Clemson (7-4) at No. 24.
News services contributed to this story.
(Nov. 21)
