Michigan climbed into the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time since 2016.
The Wolverines trounced Penn State 42-7 and moved up from the No. 5 spot after then-No. 3 LSU lost to No. 1 Alabama.
The top two spots remain unchanged this week, with the Crimson Tide No. 1 and Clemson at No. 2. Notre Dame moved up to third after the team improved to 9-0 following a hard-fought win over Northwestern. The Fighting Irish are just ahead of Michigan based on a head-to-head matchup, won by Notre Dame 24-17.
Georgia, which secured a spot in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama with a win over Kentucky during weekend, moves up a spot to No. 5 in this week’s rankings. Oklahoma moves up to sixth and LSU slid to No. 7, followed by Washington State, West Virginia and Ohio State. Kentucky dropped to No. 11 after losing to Georgia.
UCF (8-0), with the nation’s longest win streak at 21 games, remained unchanged at No. 12.
This is the second of six weekly rankings released by the selection committee, with the final rankings to be revealed on Dec. 2.
MARYLAND: Matt Canada, interim coach of the Terrapins, faces an uncertain future despite keeping the team together and forging a winning record amid the chaos around the program.
Maryland will replace DJ Durkin, the head coach who was fired last week. Canada may be asked to apply, or could end up unemployed if the school wants to go a different direction.
The program has endured a myriad of deflating events since May, when offensive lineman Jordan McNair collapsed on the field and subsequently died of heatstroke. There have been two internal investigations, one into McNair’s death and the other into the culture of the program. Durkin was placed on administrative leave in mid-August.
Canada took over, handed back the reins last Tuesday when Durkin was reinstated, then regained control when Durkin was fired the following day.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
