Andrea AdelsonSenior writer at ESPN4 minutes to read
Washington overtakes Florida State for fourth place
Washington moves into the top four in the College Football Playoff rankings after beating Oregon State and losing Florida State’s Jordan Travis to injury.
While the top three remained unchanged — Georgia remains at No. 1, followed by Ohio State at No. 2 and Michigan at No. 3 — Washington moved into the top four for the first time this season, and Florida State fell to No. 1. .5 after losing quarterback Jordan Travis for the season.
The Huskies won then-No. 11 Oregon State 22-20 on Saturday, beating then-No. 18 Utah then no. 20 University of Southern California. Although Utah and USC are no longer ranked, Washington is now No. 1 in ESPN’s standard power metric. Florida State is No. 4 on the same scale.
The Seminoles played FCS North Alabama last weekend, overcoming an early 13-0 deficit to win 58-13. But the result and result hardly mattered after Travis was lost to a lower leg injury – and how the committee sees the injury will be a source of intrigue in the coming weeks.
“It was really about Washington and what Washington did this weekend,” CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan said on ESPN, later adding that Travis’ injury had no impact on the committee’s decision this week.
“This is what the next few weeks will be about,” he added. “The key is not to anticipate what the next week will be like.”
Florida State plays rival Florida State on Saturday with Tate Rodemaker as the starting quarterback and then will go to the ACC Championship game against No. 10 Louisville on Dec. 2 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“after [conference] “Championship games, we can look at who’s going to be available and who’s not going to be available,” Corrigan said.
Coach Mike Norvell told ESPN on Monday that he’s not worried about what the committee will do this week with its classification.
“I didn’t care three or four weeks ago where we ranked, and I certainly don’t care what our rankings are this week,” Norvell said. “We did the necessary things to show who we are, and we got a chance to show how we responded to adversity, and an unfortunate situation, but this is a very bad football team. I can promise you our guys will do that.” We work as hard as we can to become better.
“We’ve got to go on the road, a big rivalry game, a big week for us, and the next week get a chance to play in the conference championship. I know if we go out and show everything we’re about, the standings are in and by the end of that really matters, we’ll put ourselves in the A situation that allows us to ultimately achieve all the things we desire.”
There is sure to be more turnover next week as the showdown between rivals Ohio State and Michigan approaches on Saturday. One of these teams will end up losing and have no chance of playing in the Big Ten Championship. The question for Florida State is whether an unbeaten season — with Travis on the sidelines — will still be enough for a four-team playoff berth.
The three teams one loss behind Florida State in the top 10 are unchanged: Oregon at No. 6, Texas at No. 7 and Alabama at No. 8. All three teams have huge matches on the horizon as well. The Ducks face Oregon State, which has dropped to No. 16, while Texas faces 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 remains the highest-ranked team in the Group of Five at No. 23, although Liberty joined the rankings this week at No. 25. Also joining the rankings this week were two familiar Florida State schools: NC State at No. 22 and Clemson at No. 22. No. 24.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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