COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS

TCU jumps into top four in playoff rankings

The Sports Xchange

November 11, 2014 at 5:15 pm.

Aaron Green (22) runs to daylight in TCU's big win over Kansas State. (Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)

TCU jumped into the top four in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, with Alabama still on the outside looking in.

The other three members of the top four remained the same, although Oregon, which was No. 4 last week, advanced to No. 2, moving past unbeaten Florida State, which dropped to third.

Unbeaten Mississippi State remained in the top spot, but the Bulldogs face a major challenge this week when they play a road game against Alabama.

The Crimson Tide are No. 5 this week after their overtime win against LSU, but they probably would move into the top four if they beat Mississippi State.

None of this matters until Dec. 7, when the 12-person College Football Playoff selection committee posts its final rankings and picks the teams that will compete in the four-team playoff to determine the national champion.

But the big winner this week was TCU, which rose from No. 6 to No. 4 after its convincing 41-20 win over Kansas State, which was No. 7 in last week’s rankings.

Auburn, which was No. 3 last week before losing to Texas A&M, dropped all the way to No. 9.

Arizona State put itself in contention by knocking off Notre Dame on Saturday, and the Sun Devils are right behind Alabama at No. 6.

The other big mover was Ohio State, which, despite having just one loss, was No. 14 a week ago. The Buckeyes’ 49-37 road win over Michigan State on Saturday vaulted Ohio State to No. 8, well within range of a spot in the playoffs if it continues to win.
The other members of this week’s top 10 are Baylor at No. 7 and Mississippi at No. 10.

Four teams from the Southeastern Conference West Division are in the top 10, but for the first time, only one is in the top four.

Once again, Marshall, the only unbeaten FBS team besides Mississippi State and Florida State, failed to earn a top-25 ranking.

In fact, no team outside the five power conferences plus Notre Dame was ranked this week.