College Football Playoff rankings: Wisconsin up to No. 13

After taking down Minnesota to secure the Big Ten West title and Paul Bunyan's Axe, Wisconsin moved up one spot to No. 13 in the latest College Football Playoff committee rankings released Tuesday night.

We've spent some time this week discussing the upper ceiling for Wisconsin in terms of playoff rankings. Truth is, even if Wisconsin defeats No. 5 Ohio State in Saturday's Big Ten Championship Game -- the Badgers aren't the underdogs, remember -- it's hard to imagine a 10-spot leap into the playoff top four. The albatross, of course, is that Northwestern loss.

But considering the lows of this season, the manner in which the Badgers have pulled themselves together is impressive. Seven straight wins put them in the conference title game, where they have a realistic shot at taking a down a team with legitimate playoff aspirations. Granted, Ohio State is missing its top two quarterbacks, but the point holds true.

Aside from Wisconsin and Ohio State, Michigan State jumped two spots to No. 8 after beating Penn State 34-10. That does it for the Big Ten in the committee's top 25.

Nationally, the big story is TCU leapfrogging Florida State to No. 3, while the Seminoles drop to No. 4. FSU, of course, remains undefeated, while TCU lost to No. 6 Baylor back in October. Without the Big 12 having a conference championship game, the playoff fates of those two teams have become the most enticing question entering the last week of the season. That is, until Tuesday night, when the committee once again appeared not quite sold on Florida State.

Full Top 25 table coming shortly.