College Football Playoff Rankings 2022: Projected Top 25 for Week 12

OK, I’ll admit, I expected Syracuse to at least put up a fight against Florida State in Week 11, but I was very, very wrong. The Seminoles dominated from start to finish as Jordan Travis threw more touchdown passes than incompletions and Trey Benson rushed for 163 yards on 18 carries. Florida State won 38-3 on the road and the committee should be impressed.

UCF set the tone at Tulane on Saturday, taking a 10-point lead in the first half and never looking back. Tulane made things interesting, but UCF was just too much for the Green Wave to handle, even at home. Gus Malzahn’s team improves to 8-2 and picks up a massive quality win which could have them in position to be the nation’s top Group of Five team. New Year’s Six, here they come?

Chip Kelly’s team had to just take care of Arizona and it’d be in control of its own destiny in the Pac-12 title race. But it couldn’t even do that on Saturday night. The Wildcats went into the Rose Bowl and upset the No. 12 Bruins. Dorian Thompson-Robinson gave it his all but it wasn’t quite enough as Arizona was the better team all night. UCLA will drop to No. 18 this week.

Notre Dame was running Navy right off the field in Week 11, and then the second half started. The Irish were up 35-13 at halftime and Navy stormed back to only lose 35-32. The second half had to be unsettling for Marcus Freeman and there’s still a ton to work on, but the Irish will still move up a few spots thanks to losses by Texas, Tulane, NC State, and UCLA.

The past four weeks have been a rollercoaster for Kansas State. They lost to TCU on the road by 10 points, blew No. 9 Oklahoma State out 48-0, lost by a touchdown to Texas at home, and then smothered Baylor on the road 31-3. The Wildcats are probably a little better than their record which is why I see the committee putting them right outside of the top 15.