Alabama Drops Spot To No. 3 With Ohio State Moving To No. 2

Alabama (10-1) did not lose, but it dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night.

Ohio State (10-1) moved up from No. 4 to replace the Tide at No. 2 on the strength of the Buckeyes' 56-7 rout on Saturday of No. 7 Michigan State, which plummeted to No. 12. Alabama defeated No. 21 Arkansas, 42-35, last week.

Georgia (11-0) remained No. 1 with Cincinnati (11-0) moving from No. 5 to No. 4. Michigan (10-1) moved from No. 6 to No. 5. Oregon (9-2) dropped from No. 3 to No. 11 after falling, 38-7, to No. 23 Utah (8-3), which rose to No. 19.

"Two great teams - Ohio State and Alabama," selection committee chairman Gary Barta said on ESPN. "This past week, though, the dominating win over Michigan State certainly got the committee's attention. The offense of Ohio State just with total domination. Their defense is playing much better. And they've been playing better week after week. Alabama's still a great football team, have a wonderful win over Ole Miss. But the last few weeks, just not showing as much domination on defense."

Notre Dame (10-1) was No. 6, followed by No. 7 Oklahoma State (10-1), No. 8 Baylor (9-2), No. 9 Ole Miss (9-2) and No. 10 Oklahoma (10-1).

The second 10 had No. 11 Oregon (9-2), No. 12 Michigan State (9-2), No. 13 BYU (9-2), No. 14 Wisconsin (8-3), No. 15 Texas A&M (8-3), No. 16 Iowa (9-2), No. 17 Pittsburgh (9-2), No. 18 Wake Forest (9-2), No. 19 Utah (8-3) and No. 20 North Carolina State (8-3).

San Diego State (10-1), Texas-San Antonio (11-0), Clemson (8-3), Houston (10-1) and Arkansas (7-4) rounded out the final five.