Florida remains at No. 6 in latest College Football Playoff rankings

Florida remained at No. 6 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday evening.

The top seven teams in the rankings stood pat this week with Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State among the top four spots.

The Gators (7-1) find themselves in an all-too-familiar spot behind Texas A&M as the Aggies continue their hold on the fifth spot.

Playoff chairman Gary Barta said Texas A&M remained ahead of Florida, in part, due to their head-to-head meeting. The Aggies upset the Gators, 41-38, on Oct. 10.

“When you go through all those criteria, at the end of the day I would say there was a lot of back and forth,” Barta said. “ … At the end of the day, Texas A&M, with all those other criteria, Texas A&M did beat Florida. That ends up tipping it over to Texas A&M’s side.”

A&M drew some consideration among the playoff selection committee members for the No. 4 spot this week.

“We don’t ever go through and take an official vote. What I can tell you is there was discussion in the room about putting both Ohio State and Texas A&M in that fourth slot,” said Barta. “ … Great discussion, but Ohio State came in at No. 4 and Texas A&M at No. 5.”

Notre Dame (9-0) remained at No. 2 with the Fighting Irish already having clinched a spot in the ACC Championship after the league announced it would evaluate the title contenders over nine conference games.

Clemson (8-1) was No. 3 with the Tigers looking to secure a spot in the ACC title game with a win over Virginia Tech this weekend.

Ohio State (4-0) retained the fourth spot this week despite having to cancel its game against Illinois Saturday due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the program. The Buckeyes returned to the practice field Tuesday with the intent of playing Michigan State this weekend.

If Ohio State loses another game to a cancellation, the Buckeyes may not be eligible for the Big Ten Championship Game per the league’s minimum requirements.

“This year it’s fair to say there are additional challenges, there is a discrepancy sometimes between a team that plays eight or nine games, a team that’s played three or four games,” Barta said. “Frankly, it’s a problem. It’s a problem that is nobody’s fault. It was created by the pandemic.

“It is a challenge and a problem to evaluate a team that’s played three games and try to evaluate them side-by-side with a team that’s played nine games. We’re doing it, it is doable. But it clearly becomes one of the pieces of the puzzle, one of the evaluation criteria as we looked at it so far, I’m sure as we go forward.”

Cincinnati (8-0) stood pat at No. 7 after the Bearcats lost a game last week to COVID concerns.

Perhaps the biggest surprise this week was Iowa State (7-2) which moved up four spots after defeating Texas, 23-20, last Friday.

This is the second of five weekly rankings released by the 13-member selection committee, with the final standings revealed on Sunday, Dec. 20. Those rankings will determine the four semifinalists along with the teams taking part in the New Year’s Six bowl games.

The two semifinals, which rotate annually, will take place in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl and in Pasadena, Calif., at the Rose Bowl on Friday, Jan. 1.

The Cotton (Dec. 30), Peach (Jan. 1), Fiesta (Jan. 2) and Orange (Jan. 2) bowls host the rest of the New Year’s Six games.

The top-ranked conference champion from the Group of 5 leagues automatically earns a spot in one of the New Year’s Six Access bowl games.

The College Football Playoff National Championship Game is slated for Monday, Jan. 11, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

The selection committee is composed of chairman Gary Barta, Paula Boivin, Tom Burman, Joe Castiglione, Rick George, Ken Hatfield, Ronnie Lott, Terry Mohajir, Ray Odierno, R.C. Slocum, Todd Stansbury, Scott Stricklin and John Urschel.

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Playoff ranking

1. Alabama (8-0)

2. Notre Dame (9-0)

3. Clemson (8-1)

4. Ohio State (4-0)

5. Texas A&M (6-1)

6. Florida (7-1)

7. Cincinnati (8-0)

8. Georgia (6-2)

9. Iowa State (7-2)

10. Miami (7-1)

11. Oklahoma (6-2)

12. Indiana (5-1)

13. BYU (9-0)

14. Northwestern (5-1)

15. Oklahoma State (6-2)

16. Wisconsin (2-1)

17. North Carolina (6-3)

18. Coastal Carolina (9-0)

19. Iowa (4-2)

20. USC (3-0)

21. Marshall (7-0)

22. Washington (3-0)

23. Oregon (3-1)

24. Tulsa (5-1)

25. Louisiana (8-1)

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