Predicting Tuesday’s entire College Football Playoff Top 25

The College Football Playoff rankings, selected by 12 committee members, was instituted for the 2014 season.

No. 17 Florida State (7-3) and No. 18 Nebraska (8-2) each moved up one spot, taking advantage of North Carolina’s loss to rival Duke. This happened last in 1985. You can view the Week #12 college football matchups and point-spreads that WestGate has initially assigned below.

As it stands, Alabama, the victor of MI vs. Ohio State, and Clemson seem to have the best shots of reaching the 2016 College Football Playoff. They still have to go out and win a few games, but it’s very much in reach.

The rankings – especially the top four – are of particular interest to the Peach Bowl, which will host the biggest game in its 49-year history December 31: a semifinal matching the Nos. The Trojans, previously ranked No. 20, jumped to No. 13. Wisconsin moved up a spot to #6. The Cardinals suffered their one and only loss in week five versus the Clemson Tigers, who sit at four.

The big victor in the latest ranking is Clemson.

OSU will travel to East Lansing, Michigan, to face the 3-7 Spartans. Now all that’s left on their schedule are games against Wake Forest and SC before an expected ACC title game matchup against Virginia Tech.

But the committee kept Clemson ahead of its ACC counterpart, citing a stronger overall schedule and that the Tigers did win the head-to-head meeting.

MI hit the road last weekend as 21-point favorites over the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes are notorious for knocking off big-time opponents, especially on their home field. Their only loss comes at Clemson by a single score and they still looked impressive in that loss. This years meeting will bu the biggest in a decade. That’s not how they play it in a couple of other top conferences.

On Tuesday night, the playoff committee made a decision to elevate OSU to the second spot in the playoff race with just two weeks remaining on the schedule. MI beat Penn State 49-10 earlier this season and holds that tiebreaker. If UW beats WSU in the Apple Cup, then wins the Pac-12 championship game, the Huskies will have four victories over top-25 teams – plus a conference championship – to bolster their resume. The Buckeyes, picking up three straight victories, helped their case for being the number-two team in the playoff. As of now, the Cardinals get the advantage because they do have the best loss. Why hypothesize about blowing the College Football Playoff rankings up when real life handled the plot for us? Instead, they are left wondering what could have been. College sports continue to prove why they are the best. Period. Don’t give me a conference champion just because.