College Football Playoff rankings: Oregon remains on top as Brigham Young, Colorado and Washington State climb

The second College Football Playoff rankings of the 2024 season featured no major surprises, a few notable tweaks and an indisputable deference to the sport’s dominant conferences.

Undefeated Oregon led the way for the second consecutive week, followed by Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Indiana.

The Big Ten gobbled four of the top five positions on Tuesday evening — each of the aforementioned teams except Texas —  but had no other representation in the rankings.

Meanwhile, the SEC controlled the bottom half of the top 12 with Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.

Put another way: If the CFP began this week, both the Big Ten and SEC would have four teams in the field while the ACC and Big 12 would place only their conference champions in the 12-team event.

Notable developments from the rankings:

— Georgia dropped nine spots, to No. 12, after the lopsided loss at Mississippi.

That’s also nine spots lower than Texas, which lost to the Bulldogs by 15 points (in Austin) a few weeks ago and has not beaten a ranked team this season.

(Because of the CFP seeding process, the Bulldogs would not make the field despite their No. 12 ranking.)

— Brigham Young (9-0) rose three spots, to No. 6, a substantial move that cannot be rooted only in the Cougars’ victory over a sub-.500 opponent (Utah).

Instead, the explanation for their ascent could be two-fold: Losses by two teams ranked ahead of them last week (Georgia and Miami); and the selection committee correcting for placing the Cougars too low last week.

— Boise State dropped one spot, to No. 13, after a narrow victory over Nevada.

“When you look at it as it relates to where they fell back one, that’s more related to how teams played that were above them,” committee chair Warde Manuel, the athletic director at Michigan, told reporters on a teleconference.

“It wasn’t that Boise State did not have a good win. It was more around in the analysis of how everything fell, where teams ahead of them were and who slid in different directions, and then obviously Ole Miss had a great win versus Georgia and moved ahead of Boise State based on the committee’s evaluation.”

The Broncos (8-1) remain on track for an automatic bid as the highest-ranked Group of Five team. It doesn’t matter where they are ranked as long as they win the Mountain West championship and are ahead of the American, Conference USA, Sun Belt and MAC champions.

(Of the four leagues, only the AAC was represented in the rankings on Tuesday, with No. 24 Army and No. 25 Tulane.)

However, the Broncos could claim an opening-round bye if they are one of the four highest-ranked conference champions.

In that regard, their placement relative to the top teams from the Big 12 (No. 6 BYU) and ACC (No. 9 Miami) is worth tracking.

— Colorado (7-2) jumped three spots, to No. 17, after winning at Texas Tech — not that the Buffaloes’ exact position really matters.

If they win the Big 12, they will make the CFP as an automatic qualifier.

If they don’t win the Big 12, they have no chance to reach the field through the at-large pool.

— Washington State (8-1) also climbed three spots, to No. 18, after dispatching Utah State.

Because of the Pac-12’s depleted state, the Cougars are treated as an Independent (e.g., Notre Dame) in the CFP selection process: They cannot earn an automatic bid and must qualify through the at-large pool.

Can they climb high enough over the next three weeks — into the top 12, if not the top 11 — without much rocket fuel in their remaining schedule? It seems unlikely but is hardly impossible given this upset-filled season.

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