What should College Football Playoff rankings be heading into Week 12?

What should the College Football Playoff rankings look like following a chaotic Week 11? Here’s our suggestion for how to rank the teams.

As we head into Week 12 of the College Football season, there are several programs around the country vying for a playoff bid.

Following an Alabama loss to LSU and a Penn State loss to Minnesota, two spots inside the top-four will be available. What should it look like?

Keep in mind, these are not projections. Here’s a look at our top-10 heading into Week 12.

1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Minnesota
5. Baylor
6. Oregon
7. Alabama
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma
10. Georgia

The Why Behind the What…

All 10 of these College Football teams have a path to the playoff as we head down the stretch. Some of the programs will need upsets to happen in front of them, while others are in ‘win and you’re in’ mode.

Right now, this is a snapshot of what we think the top-10 should look like based off merit and winning games, rather than quality losses and what we think would happen if we were predicting a neutral-site game- which has never been an efficient model.

LSU, Ohio State and Clemson are explanatory. They’ve won all their games. LSU has a road win over Alabama, plus a win versus Florida, to be No. 1. Both the Buckeyes and Tigers have been dominant all season long and are in position to win-out and win their conference.

In the scope of the here & now, we have Minnesota at No. 4 because they’re undefeated with a win over a top-15 Penn State team. Baylor is also undefeated and should be rewarded for winning their games. Both the Golden Gophers and Bears should be in the playoff if they win-out. That would include a win over Oklahoma for Baylor (potentially two), and a win over Ohio State for Minnesota. If they lose, however, they’ll be eliminated.

When you look at the one-loss teams between No. 6 and No. 10, we have Oregon No. 1. Oregon has the best loss- outside of Alabama- of the group and the Ducks have been fairly dominant since that loss to Auburn to open up the season. The Ducks have played a tougher schedule with a few quality opponents on it and that’s why they’re ahead of Alabama.

Had the Crimson Tide challenged themselves in the non-conference, they’d be No. 6 in our poll. But instead they relied on the strength of the SEC- which has faltered outside of LSU and potentially Auburn- and that’s not going to help them with one of the weakest strengths of schedule in the nation.

Utah and Oklahoma could both be argued for in that No. 8 spot, but we ultimately elected to go with the Utes, as the committee did. However, should Oklahoma beat Baylor this weekend, they’d likely move ahead of Utah and potentially even Oregon for that No. 6 spot in our eyes.

Georgia is No. 10 in the rankings because the Bulldogs haven’t played a tough schedule to this point and they lost at home to South Carolina against the Gamecocks’ third-string quarterback. Georgia has a decent win against a top-15 Florida team and they could vault themselves forward should they beat Auburn this weekend.

The Bulldogs still have a path to the playoff regardless of our rankings because they can still win the SEC. Should they do that, they’ll have done enough to be in the College Football Playoff.

There are arguments you could make for many teams and the truth is that the Week 12 rankings don’t really matter, but this is how we would have the College Football Playoff rankings if we were the committee.

Ultimately, winning games should matter and that’s what these rankings attempt to reflect.