The Trojans enter the top four entering conference championship weekend.
In the next-to-last College Football Playoff rankings rollout of the season, there is a new team in the the top four.
Georgia remains in the No. 1 spot, and after Michigan upset Ohio State on Saturday, the Wolverines moved up a spot to No. 2 with TCU moving up to No. 3. That allowed USC to replace the Buckeyes in the top four.
However, the biggest question of the day focused on which team would round out the top five—Ohio State or Alabama. The committee decided that Ohio State would be ranked No. 5, with Alabama slotting right behind at No. 6.
With each of the top four playing this weekend, this ranking means that the Buckeyes likely will act as the de facto first alternate if any of those four teams lose and the committee decides to make a change. Additionally, that’s bad news for the two-loss Crimson Tide, which must hope that two of the top four teams lose Saturday.
When asked about the committee’s thought process behind the top five on ESPN, CFP chairman Boo Corrigan said the quality and quantity of wins mean more than that of losses.
“At the end of the day, we talk a lot about wins in this committee,” Corrigan said. “It’s something we talk about more than anything else.”
Besides the top six, there was major movement down the rankings as well. LSU, Clemson and Oregon all suffered tough losses that led to falling in the poll. Meanwhile, South Carolina is now ranked No. 19 thanks to back-to-back wins over top-10 opponents while Tennessee, Kansas State and Penn State also rose in the top 10.
Here are the full fourth College Football Playoff rankings:
- Georgia (12-0)
- Michigan (12-0)
- TCU (12-0)
- USC (11-1)
- Ohio State (11-1)
- Alabama (10-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- Penn State (10-2)
- Clemson (10-2)
- Kansas State (9-3)
- Utah (9-3)
- Washington (10-2)
- Florida State (9-3)
- LSU (9-3)
- Oregon State (9-3)
- Oregon (9-3)
- UCLA (9-3)
- Tulane (10-2)
- South Carolina (8-4)
- Texas (8-4)
- Notre Dame (8-4)
- UCF (9-3)
- North Carolina (9-3)
- Mississippi State (8-4)
- NC State (8-4)