CFP Rankings: Alabama moves up to 7th after Austin Peay win

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Author

Alabama moved up one spot to 7th in the current college football playoff rankings.

Despite the move, the Crimson Tide doesn’t appear to have a realistic route to making the college football playoffs for the eighth time in nine years. LSU and No. 1 Georgia are already tied in the Southeastern Conference title game.

LSU moved up to fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night and Southern California finished sixth behind Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU.

The top four stayed the same for the third straight week, but the chasing teams changed the order after Tennessee lost to South Carolina last Saturday night.

Selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan, who is also the North Carolina state athletic director, said there has been a lot of discussion this week about LSU (9-2) and USC (10-1).

“The committee viewed the victories over Alabama, Mississippi (for LSU) as stronger than the victories over UCLA and Oregon State (for USC) at the end of the day,” Corrigan said. “The only area we have questions about is the strength of USC’s defense, and when we look at it in its entirety, we believe LSU deserves the 5th and 6th SC.”

Two games this weekend could provide more clarity.

Michigan (11-0) is on Saturday at Ohio State (11-0) and USC hosts Notre Dame (8-3), who checked in at No. 15 on the selection committee’s rankings.

Two rankings are still missing. The final ones on December 4th prepare the field for the College Football Playoffs. The semifinals will be played in the Peach and Fiesta bowls on December 31st. The national championship game will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Clemson finished eighth, Oregon was ninth, and Tennessee dropped to 10th.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS: November 22, 2022 (SEC teams in bold):

1. Georgia (11-0)
2. Ohio State (11-0)
3. Michigan (11-0)
4. TCU (11-0)
5. LSU (9-2)
6. USC (10-1)
7. Alabama (9-2)
8. Clemson (10-1)
9. Oregon (9-2)
10. Tennessee (9-2)
11. Pennsylvania (9-2)
12. State of Kansas (8-3)
13. Washington (9-2)
14. Utah (8-3)
15. Notre Dame (8-3)
16. State of Florida (8-3)
17. North Carolina (9-2)
18. UCLA (8-3)
19. Tulane (9-2)
20. Ole Miss (8-3)
21. Oregon State (8-3)
22. UCF (8-3)
23. Texas (7-4)
24. Cincinnati (9-2)
25. Louisville (7-4)

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