College Football Playoff rankings: Washington moves up to No. 4 ahead of Florida State

Georgia remains in a familiar position in this week's College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs held the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive week, bolstered by an impressive defeat of Tennessee — their third win in a row against a team in the committee's rankings.

Ohio State remains in the second spot ahead if its showdown with No. 3 Michigan. The Buckeyes have lost the last two games in the heated rivalry with the Wolverines. The winner would just need to beat Iowa in next week's Big Ten title game to secure a spot in the playoff.

The change in the top four comes at No. 4 with Washington moving up one spot and switching places with Florida State. The Huskies posted an impressive road win against Oregon State in Week 12 and are only two wins away from an unbeaten regular season.

The Seminoles are facing the challenge of playing without Jordan Travis after the quarterback was ruled out for the season due to a leg injury he suffered against North Alabama last week. Florida State will have to beat Florida and Louisville, in the ACC title game, with Tate Rodemaker starting in place of Travis to finish 13-0.

"In talking about it and looking at it and with regards to them going from 4 to5, as we said earlier, it had a lot to do with Washington," North Carolina State athletics director and College Football Playoff committee chairman Boo Corrigan said. "It had everything to do with Washington as we were looking at it. Again, as we're looking at this, we're going to close the books here in a little bit on week 12 and then move on toweek 13 and see how they play against Florida."

Oregon continues to lead the one-loss teams behind the remaining Power Five unbeatens. The Ducks are followed by Texas and Alabama for the fourth consecutive week. The top 10 is completed by Missouri and Louisville.

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No. 23 Tulane is the top team representing the Group of Five conferences. The Green Wave face Texas-San Antonio and then a likely matchup against SMU in the American Athletic title game.

Liberty joined the rankings at No. 25, despite being in the weak Conference USA. The highest-ranked champion from those leagues earns an automatic berth into the New Year's Six.

"They keep winning games, and the value of winning games, they've scored a lot of points, averaged a lot of yards, obviously the strength of schedule has been an issue from the beginning," Corrigan said. "But at the end of the day you can only play the people that are on your schedule, and I think as we looked at it more and more and the value of winning and the value that the committee puts on that, it became a determining factor with Liberty coming in at No. 25."

The SEC again leads all conferences in the top 25 with six teams - all of which are in the top 18. The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 are the other leagues with multiple teams. Each have four apiece.

The final ranking of the committee will take place Dec. 3, and the top four teams will earn spots in the playoff. The semifinals will be played at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. The championship game will take place on Jan. 8 at NRG Stadium in Houston.

College Football Playoff committee Top 25

1. Georgia (11-0)

2. Ohio State (11-0)  

3. Michigan (11-0)

4. Washington (11-0)

5. Florida State (11-0)

6. Oregon (10-1)

7. Texas (10-1)

8. Alabama (10-1)

9. Missouri (9-2)

10. Louisville (10-1)

11. Penn State (9-2)

12. Mississippi (9-2)

13. Oklahoma (9-2)

14. LSU (8-3)

15. Arizona (8-3)

16. Oregon State (8-3)

17. Iowa (9-2)

18. Notre Dame (8-3)

19. Kansas State (8-3)

20. Oklahoma State (8-3)

21. Tennessee (7-4)

22. North Carolina State (8-3)

23. Tulane (10-1)

24. Clemson (7-4)

25. Liberty (11-0)