College Football Playoff rankings for Nov. 28 released

By Kevin Kelley -

The College Football Playoff Rankings for Nov. 28 of the 2017 season have been released by the selection committee, and Clemson is the new top-ranked team.

Clemson rolled over rival South Carolina 34-10 on Saturday and will now face No. 7 Miami in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte.

Auburn, which upset then No. 1 Alabama 26-14 in the Iron Bowl, has moved up to No. 2. The Tigers, who face (6) Georgia in the SEC Championship game, are followed by (3) Oklahoma and (4) Wisconsin.

Just outside of the top four are (5) Alabama, (6) Georgia, (7) Miami, and (8) Ohio State. Each of those teams can vault into the top four with wins on Saturday, with Alabama having a lesser chance due to being idle.

UCF moved up one spot to No. 14 and is the highest ranked team from a Group of Five conference.

College Football Playoff Rankings

1. Clemson
2. Auburn
3. Oklahoma
4. Wisconsin
5. Alabama
6. Georgia
7. Miami
8. Ohio State
9. Penn State
10. USC
11. TCU
12. Stanford
13. Washington
14. UCF
15. Notre Dame
16. Michigan State
17. LSU
18. Washington State
19. Oklahoma State
20. Memphis
21. Northwestern
22. Virginia Tech
23. Mississippi State
24. NC State
25. Fresno State

On Sunday, Dec. 3 at Noon ET, the selection committee will announce their final rankings, Playoff Semifinal matchups, and the New Year’s bowl pairings.

Bowl Schedule

Comments (9)

“Just looking how Alabama can make the Playoffs as the third best Team from the SEC.”

The Ohio State did it 3 years ago so it is possible, if TCU & Buckeyes win, Bama could be in.

In 2015, Ohio State was unquestionably a top 4 talent that year (admittedly they did not play up to their talent) and lost the one game they couldn’t lose which was to Michigan St. Despite their talent, they deservingly were left out of the playoff. It didn’t help Ohio State that year that their schedule was horrific. In my opinion, Alabama should find themselves in a similar position as Ohio State in 2015. Alabama lost the one game they just couldn’t afford to lose. If they lost to Mississippi St and beat Auburn, they would be fine in my opinion.

Unfortunately, my opinion doesn’t count to the committee. The committee will put Alabama in if Oklahoma or Wisconsin lose. Despite Alabama playing only 5 teams with a pulse this year, they get a pass based on the A on their helmet. As an Ohio State fan, I shouldn’t complain; we generally get the same treatment from the committee. I just think that if Ohio State TCU and USC all win, they all deserve consideration for the 4th spot over Alabama. Alabama’s schedule is more similar to UCF than it is any of those teams. In all honesty, USC (and entire Pac-12) is getting jobbed more than anyone. They will have played 12 P5 teams compared to Alabama’s 9. If USC win Friday, they will end the season 8-2 vs teams with a pulse, Alabama will be 4-1. Alabama has this reputation of being dominant. If it were true, I would give them a pass for their schedule strength. The reality is the scores in their games against teams with a pulse were 24-7, 27-19, 24-10, 24-17 and 14-26, hardly dominant by college football standards. Alabama will get in, but on reputation alone and not because they deserve to.

Ohio State also beat Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. And Ohio State played 9 conference games, won 3 top 10 games, lost to the big ten champ Penn State by a late blocked FG turned TD… Alabama played a mediocre Florida State in a neutral site, and yes, while they injured their QB in the game, before the injury, the game was a toss-up. Without FSU’s QB, they sucked. And with him, I bet they are still only an 8-9 win team… Alabama’s schedule from top to bottom is a disgrace. The goat Saban knows what he’s doing with this weak schedule and 7 home games plus a close high paying neutral site game… If he wanted to actually challenge his team, he would schedule no FCS games, no/or 1 sunbelt games, and 2 Power 5 games… Look at the SEC East: each of them play about 2 power 5 non conference games. Alabama and the rest of the SEC west doesn’t… They don’t deserve to play in the CFP, even over teams like TCU, USC and OSU. Their strength of schedule is the equivalent to Wisconsin’s, only Wisconsin hasn’t even lost, and just blows out bad teams like Bama did with the 4 worst SEC teams you have ever seen: (Tenn, Vandy, Arkansas, Ole Miss). Until the SEC plays up to their reputation with a real SoS, you don’t deserve anything.

This guy is so on the money. The PAC 12 is getting robbed here. OSU is 2015, while the most talented, didn’t win when they needed to. Bama’s schedule this year is equivalent to UCF’s. When you compare USC’s schedule to Bama’s, it’s embarrassing. Their best wins are 9-3 LSU who lost to Troy and 8-4 Miss State who was 4-4 in conference and whose best non-conference game was a embarrassing BYU team.

Here are six SEC NC schedules for 2018, would you say any of these are “cupcake”? These six schedules are from the :elite” of the conference…. NC schedules [(N) = neutral site), and (A) = away)

1) Louisville (N), Arkansas State, UL Lafayette, The Citadel
2) Washington (N), Alabama State, Southern Miss, Liberty
3) Charleston Southern, Colorado State, Idaho, Florida State (A)
4) Austin Peay, Middle Tennessee, UMass, Georgia Tech
5) Miami FL (N), SE Louisania, Louisania Tech, Rice
6) Northwestern State, Clemson, ULM, UAB

This is embarrassing in my opinion, but what’s your thoughts?

Any of these schedules is comparable to Wisconsin’s schedule this year. 9 P5’s, 3 guaranteed wins. Only difference is Wisconsin gets ridiculed and all of these teams will be praised.

Agree on all accounts Jeff. Funny on the view is different depending on what side the fence you sit. Thanks for your thoughts.