College Football Playoff Rankings: Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, Florida State at No. 1

By Cameron Teague Robinson, Seth Emerson, Austin Meek and Nicole Auerbach

The second College Football Playoff rankings for the 2023 season were released Tuesday night. Here’s what you need to know:

Buckeyes retain top spot

Ohio State topped the College Football Playoff rankings this week. After debuting in first place, the Buckeyes went on the road and beat Rutgers. While it wasn’t a resume-defining win, it was enough to keep them in the No. 1 seed in the playoff bracket, despite Georgia’s upset of No. 14 Missouri on Saturday.

In the grand scheme of things, it won’t change much for Ohio State. They host Michigan State and Minnesota in the next two weeks, aiming to avoid upsets before traveling to Ann Arbor to play Michigan on Nov. 25. If the Buckeyes do that, they will control their own destiny until the College Football Playoff, once again. – Cameron Teague Robinson, Ohio State football writer

How Georgia Compares to Ohio State

Some thought the team might use the win over top-ranked Georgia — Missouri — as an excuse to lift the Bulldogs, but it was still a ranked win against two wins for Ohio State. Look below in the rankings: no. No. 9 Ole Miss is Georgia’s next opponent, followed by No. 13 Tennessee. (After the Volunteers played Missouri.)

So, if the Bulldogs win the regular season, they’ll either move up to No. 1 or be a solid No. 2 heading into the SEC Championship. Even if Georgia loses one of the next two — very likely — its resume would appear to be enough to win the SEC Championship. It would be impressive if the Bulldogs were 12-0 but losing the SEC championship? Yes, but it depends on what happens elsewhere in the country.

Bottom line, Georgia’s schedule is slowly becoming an albatross. – Seth Emerson, Georgia football writer

The importance of Week 11 for Michigan

Not much to discuss with Michigan, unless you’re talking about stealing a sign. The Wolverines defeated Purdue 41-13 to improve to 9-0 and stay at No. 3 in the rankings. Next week will be very interesting. If the Wolverines beat Penn State, they could move up to either No. 1 or No. 2.

If they lose, their chances of getting back into the top four will depend on beating Ohio State at the end of the year and expecting help from other teams. This week was definitely a crossroads for Michigan’s season. – Austin Meek, Michigan football writer

Conflicts of the group

The top eight teams won last week and there is no significant change in this week’s rankings. The biggest question coming into Tuesday is whether or not Georgia can push Ohio State into the top spot now that the Bulldogs have a top-15 win over Missouri. But it appears the selection committee will be waiting for a little more resume boost before it moves the Dawgs.

It’s a little frustrating to see a team rely on resume to justify Ohio State at No. 1, but lean more on the eye test for Georgia and Michigan, keeping them above Florida State and Washington. Why would the Huskies, who had the best win of any (No. 6 Oregon), fall out of the top four? This is the contradictory logic of this group. – Nicole Auerbach, senior college football writer

Required reading

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)