Nebraska, Baylor, West Virginia and Boise State -- all previously undefeated -- lost on the road Saturday. The Cornhuskers got beat in overtime, the Bears by a field goal and the Broncos by a safety. Week 9 started with nine undefeated teams eyeing playoff bids and spots in the New Year's Six. Suddenly, there are just four undefeated Power Five teams and one unbeaten team in the Group of Five as Western Michigan hopes to get the golden ticket.
The Broncos' boost came as a result of Boise State's first loss of the season. The WMU Broncos moved up three spots to No. 18 while Boise State made the biggest fall, down 11 spots to No. 24.
With the first College Football Playoff Rankings coming out Tuesday, you get the feeling that we're still a few major shakeups away from seeing the playoff picture clearly. The last couple of weeks of conference play should be enough evidence to know that we're nowhere close to the end, but history provides even more reason to believe in the continuation of chaos.
Only three of the eight teams named to the top four in the initial rankings have gone on to make the playoff thanks to a series of bracket-busting defeats in November. We think that Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Washington are the teams most likely to be in the top four Tuesday, but given recent history, we should also be paying attention to the other teams lurking in the wings to take their spot.
Ohio State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Florida, Oklahoma and Auburn all made moves up of at least three spots thanks to the reshuffling.
Here's the new Coaches Poll Top 25:
- Alabama (63 first-place votes)
- Michigan
- Clemson (1)
- Washington
- Louisville
- Ohio State
- Texas A&M
- Wisconsin
- Florida
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- Auburn
- Baylor
- LSU
- West Virginia
- Utah
- North Carolina
- Western Michigan
- Florida State
- Colorado
- Virginia Tech
- Oklahoma State
- Penn State
- Boise State
- Washington State
