A shakeup was bound to come in the penultimate College Football Playoff Rankings with Rivalry Week preceding the release of the latest top 25. And that’s exactly what happened Tuesday night as Michigan and TCU both moved up one space with USC entering the four-team field and Georgia holding onto the No. 1 spot.
The reshuffling came amid Michigan’s thorough beatdown of then-No. 2 Ohio State in 2022’s edition of The Game. The defeat knocked the Buckeyes out of the top four, though they do sit at No. 5 with the best chance to enter the playoff of any team not already in the projected field.
USC was long expected to move into the top four this week if it passed its latest test, and it did exactly that (with flying colors) by virtue of a clean win at home against then-No. 15 Notre Dame. It was the second straight victory over a ranked opponent for the Trojans, which now sit a Pac-12 Championship Game win over No. 11 Utah away from becoming the first team from that conference to participate in the CFP over the last six seasons (2016-17). Utah is the lone team to defeat USC this year, giving the Trojans a chance to overcome that negative data point head-to-head in the last week of the season.
College Football Playoff Rankings, Nov. 29
1. Georgia (12-0)
2. Michigan (12-0)
3. TCU (12-0)
4. USC (11-1)
5. Ohio State (11-1)
6. Alabama (10-2)
7. Tennessee (10-2)
8. Penn State (10-2)
9. Clemson (10-2)
10. Kansas State (9-3)
11. Utah (9-3)
12. Washington (10-2)
13. Florida State (9-3)
14. LSU (9-3)
15. Oregon State (9-3)
16. Oregon (9-3)
17. UCLA (9-3)
18. Tulane (10-2)
19. South Carolina (8-4)
20. Texas (8-4)
21. Notre Dame (8-4)
22. UCF (9-3)
23. North Carolina (9-3)
24. Mississippi State (8-4)
25. NC State (8-4)