Where Ohio State and Michigan sit in last College Football Playoff rankings before The Game

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the third straight season, Michigan is looking up at Ohio State in the latest College Football Playoff rankings released before The Game.

For the third straight season, it couldn’t matter less.

Ohio State will be No. 2 and Michigan will be No. 3 when the teams play Saturday in Ann Arbor. A loss for either, though, means a fall from the top four next week, with increasingly narrow options to possibly pull one back in.

Georgia remained No. 1 for the second consecutive week. The two-time defending national champions enhanced their resume with a 38-10 victory at Tennessee last Saturday.

The only question was whether Washington, which beat last week’s No. 11 team, Oregon State, would jump over both Ohio State, Michigan and Florida State this week. The Huskies did move up, but only to No. 4, ahead of FSU.

The winner of The Game, though, is almost certain to be no lower than No. 2 for next Tuesday’s rankings anyway. It would be the best win, at least by rankings, for any team in the country. For Ohio State, it would also be another prime road win to add to an earlier one over No. 18 Notre Dame.

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Penn State moved up one spot to No. 11. That is the best win on either OSU or Michigan’s resume, though the Wolverines won in State College.

Iowa slipped one spot to No. 17 as the only other Big Ten team in the field. But that is the second-best win by ranking for either OSU or Michigan.