Undefeated Florida State falls to fourth in latest College Football Playoff rankings

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee announced today its sixth top 25 ranking, and once again the rankings contain multiple inconsistencies.

Florida State, the only undefeated team in the top 10, dropped a spot down to four, presumably because it has had to scratch out multiple close wins late in the fourth quarter this season.

So in this instance, the committee deemed the Seminoles' record to be less important than its performance on the field.

That principle was apparently abandoned at other times, such as in the case of 9-3 Ole Miss, which is ranked two places below two-loss Mississippi State, a team the Rebels comfortably defeated this past Saturday.  Seemingly, the records did matter for these two schools.

Still, the committee does seem poised to get one Pac-12 team into the playoff, as presumably the winner of the Conference championship game between #2 Oregon and #7 Arizona will move into one of the top 4 spots.

“Several factors came into play as the committee compiled its rankings this week and as we always do, we started with a clean sheet of paper,” said selection chairman Jeff Long.  “That means we start from scratch each week and evaluate small groups of teams against one another and create the rankings through seven rounds of voting.  The committee is a group of college football experts whose task each week is to take a fresh look at the rankings 1-25.”

Surprisingly, fifth-ranked Ohio State, now down to its third string quarterback, could crack the top 4 as well, should it win the Big 10.

The selection committee will prepare the final set of rankings on Selection Day, Sunday, December 7. The top four teams in the final rankings will play in the playoff semifinals on January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

The selection committee will hold its last meeting of the season December 5-7. The playoff pairings, New Year’s bowl pairings and final top 25 rankings will be announced Sunday, December 7.

1 Alabama 11-1
2 Oregon 11-1
3 TCU 10-1
4 Florida State 12-0
5 Ohio State 11-1
6 Baylor 10-1
7 Arizona 10-2
8 Michigan State 10-2
9 Kansas State 9-2
10 Mississippi State 10-2
11 Georgia Tech 10-2
12 Mississippi 9-3
13 Wisconsin 10-2
14 Georgia 9-3
15 UCLA 9-3
16 Missouri 10-2
17 Arizona State 9-3
18 Clemson 9-3
19 Auburn 8-4
20 Oklahoma 8-3
21 Louisville 9-3
22 Boise State 10-2
23 Utah 8-4
24 LSU 8-4
25 Southern California 8-4