College Football Playoff Rankings: Big Ten sitting in strong position

The inital college football playoff rankings were released on Tuesday evening. The rankings were dominated by the SEC, but the Big Ten sits in a very strong position as well. The top-ranked team in the land was the Tennessee Volunteers. I can confirm this because as someone who lives in Volunteer country (Sorry Vandy) they won't shut up about it. A lot of Tennessee Orange has suddenly appeared around town here in Nashville. More like the Tennessee Fairweathers amirite?

Anyway, where was I, oh the Vols have a big one this weekend as they take on the 3rd ranked Georgia Bulldogs in what is essentially is an SEC East title game. The Bulldogs got the third spot but will likely jump up to #1 with a win over the Vols on Saturday.

While the SEC took the headlines with two of the top three, the Big Ten still sits in a strong position with two teams in the top five. Ohio State came in at #2 in the initial rankings while the Michigan Wolverines came in at #5. Those two teams appear to be on a crash course to meet as undefeated teams on Thanksgiving weekend to decide the Big Ten East champion before taking on the mighty Big Ten West.

The rest of the conferences all still have a horse in the race as well as the ACC has Clemson at #4, the Big 12 has TCU at #7, and the PAC 12 has Oregon at #8 and USC at #9. Theoretically, 13 teams remain with either 0 or one loss, so the number of teams that could make the college football playoff sits there but dwindling faster and faster with each week. With multiple top-ten meetings this weekend we’ll see some major shakeups this time next week.