The SEC saw three of its contenders for the College Football Playoff go down in wild finishes during Week 13 of the season.
As a result, all three now have three losses on the season and their College Football Playoff hopes will boil down to them potentially getting a bump over a two-loss team from another conference, or even more carnage happening at the top.
This week's College Football Playoff rankings will see the most movement of any thus far — and they'll be the most telling for the at-large picture heading into the final week of the season — and it will be interesting to see what the committee does with the fallen SEC teams.
Alabama (7), Ole Miss (9), and Texas A&M (15) are all primed to drop. The question is just how far will they drop in the College Football Playoff rankings?
First, there were a few other teams outside of the SEC to lose that we should make note of: BYU (14), Colorado (16), and Army (19). Arizona State, ranked No. 21 in the country, picked up the win over BYU at home, so the Sun Devils are likely primed to make the biggest jump.
So, what do the rankings look like? Here's our best guess.
Ranking | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
1 | Oregon | 11-0 |
2 | Ohio State | 10-1 |
3 | Texas | 10-1 |
4 | Penn State | 10-1 |
5 | Notre Dame | 10-1 |
6 | Miami | 10-1 |
7 | Georgia | 9-2 |
8 | Tennessee | 9-2 |
9 | SMU | 10-1 |
10 | Indiana | 10-1 |
11 | Boise State | 10-1 |
12 | Clemson | 9-2 |
13 | Alabama | 8-3 |
14 | Ole Miss | 8-3 |
15 | South Carolina | 8-3 |
16 | Arizona State | 9-2 |
17 | BYU | 9-2 |
18 | Tulane | 9-2 |
19 | Iowa State | 9-2 |
20 | Texas A&M | 8-3 |
21 | Colorado | 8-3 |
22 | UNLV | 9-2 |
23 | Missouri | 8-3 |
24 | Illinois | 8-3 |
25 | Army | 9-1 |
It honestly may be tough for the committee to rank a two-loss team like Arizona State behind Alabama, Ole Miss, or South Carolina. At this point, let's be real, they shouldn't be.
There's also a school of thought that South Carolina — with five-straight wins — could potentially be the top-ranked three-loss team this week, but head-to-head losses to Alabama and Ole Miss might hinder the Gamecocks from moving up even further, at least until they have one more big resume-building win under their belt.
Conveniently, they could get that this week as both them and Clemson will be playing for a potential at-large bid in the College Football Playoff.
We'll be watching the College Football Playoff Rankings show on Tuesday because the committee has a lot of carnage to sort through.