Alabama remains atop latest College Football Playoff rankings

NEW YORK (UPI) — The Alabama Crimson Tide again topped the College Football Playoff rankings as the top seven teams remained unchanged Tuesday night.

Alabama sat atop the CFP rankings for the 20th time — the most since the format was introduced for the 2014 season — after a dominant win over Auburn on Saturday. Notre Dame (No. 2), Clemson (No. 3) and Ohio State (No. 4) also occupied the same spots as last week.

Ohio State remained at No. 4 despite the cancellation of the Buckeyes’ game against Illinois on Saturday. The matchup was called off due to an increase in COVID-19 cases within the Buckeyes’ program, which included head coach Ryan Day testing positive.

Despite only playing four games this season, Ohio State was ranked ahead of one-loss Texas A&M (No. 5) and one-loss Florida (No. 6).

Selection committee chairman Gary Barta said the group discussed whether to rank Texas A&M ahead of Ohio State, but the committee ultimately went with quarterback Justin Fields and the Buckeyes.

“When those two teams were put side-by-side this morning and [Monday] night, there just wasn’t enough there to put Texas A&M ahead of Ohio State,” Barta said Tuesday.

No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 10 Miami also stayed in the same positions, while Georgia moved up one spot to No. 8 after its win over South Carolina.

Northwestern was the only team in the initial CFP rankings from last week to fall out of the top 10. The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season to Michigan State over the weekend and fell six spots to No. 14.

The CFP selection committee will release rankings Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 before revealing its final list Dec. 20.

Alabama remains atop the College Football Playoff rankings (as of Dec. 1):

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0)

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-0)

3. Clemson Tigers (8-1)

4. Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0)

5. Texas A&M Aggies (6-1)

6. Florida Gators (7-1)

7. Cincinnati Bearcats (8-0)

8. Georgia Bulldogs (6-2)

9. Iowa State Cyclones (7-2)

10. Miami Hurricanes (7-1)

11. Oklahoma Sooners (6-2)

12. Indiana Hoosiers (5-1)

13. BYU Cougars (9-0)

14. Northwestern Wildcats (5-1)

15. Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-2)

16. Wisconsin Badgers (2-1)

17. North Carolina Tar Heels (6-3)

18. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (9-0)

19. Iowa Hawkeyes (4-2)

20. USC Trojans (3-0)

21. Marshall Thundering Herd (7-0)

22. Washington Huskies (3-0)

23. Oregon Ducks (3-1)

24. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-1)

25. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (8-1)

Reporting by Connor Grott