College Football Playoff Rankings: Latest Week 13 Predictions

By Dan Cancian On 11/26/19 at 3:21 AM EST

Sports College Football College Football Playoff Ncaa NCAA Football

No major changes are expected in the upper echelon of the College Football Playoff rankings when the latest weekly set is released on Tuesday.

LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia occupied the top four spots a week ago and should continue to do so on Tuesday night, while Alabama is expected to stay put at No.5 and Utah could overtake Pac-12 rivals Oregon in sixth place.

When are the College Football Playoff rankings announced?

The fourth College Football Playoff rankings of the season will be released on Tuesday, November 26.

Weekly updates will follow until December 3, culminating in the College Football Playoff selection show, which is scheduled for December 8.

TV coverage

Every weekly rankings show is broadcast on ESPN. This Tuesday's show airs at 7 p.m. ET.

Live stream

A live stream of the weekly rankings will be available via ESPN's website and via the ESPN App.

Joe Burrow, LSU Tigers — Joe Burrow #9 of the LSU Tigers looks on during the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Tiger Stadium on November 23 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Chris Graythen/Getty

No change at the top

LSU and Ohio State have held the top two spots in the CFP since the rankings were first released on November 5, with the Buckeyes debuting at No.1 before being leapfrogged by the Tigers a week later.

Both improved to 11-0 on Saturday, with LSU thrashing Arkansas 56-20 to clinch the SEC East title and a spot in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, while Ohio State defeated No.8 Penn State 28-17 to secure the Big Ten East title—and with it a spot in the conference title game.

LSU and Ohio State are expected to continue to occupy the first two spots in the ranking with Clemson—who had a bye this week—remaining at No.3.

Iron Bowl crucial for Alabama

The Crimson Tide began the post-Tua Tagovailoa era convincingly, with a 66-3 shellacking of Western Carolina as backup quarterback Mac Jones finished with 275 passing yards and three touchdowns.

That, however, is unlikely to have done enough to convince the CFP selection committee Alabama deserves a spot in the top four for the first in three weeks.

With no SEC title game to speak of on the horizon, Alabama's only chance of securing a playoff spot is the Iron Bowl against No.15 Auburn on Saturday.

"This is the best team we've played, probably, so far this year," coach Nick Saban said on Monday of the Tigers. Considering Alabama has already played No.1 LSU that seems somewhat a stretch, but it's obvious Saban knows his team needs to deliver.

A loss on the road against Auburn and Alabama would almost surely miss the CFP for the first time since its inception in 2014.

The case for the Pac-12

Utah could be the big winner in Tuesday's CFP rankings. As the graphic provided by Statista shows, the Utes were ranked at No.7 a week ago but could gain ground after defeating Arizona 35-7 to improve to 10-1.

CFP Ranking Week 12, 2019, Statista — LSU remains top of the College Football Playoff rankings for the second consecutive week, followed by Ohio State and reigning champions Clemson. Statista

The win, coupled with Oregon's shock loss against Arizona State, installed the Utes as the Pac-12's sole CFP contender.

The main issue for Utah is that none of its wins have come against a team with fewer than four losses, but its dominance has to be taken into account. The Utes have conceded seven points or less in five of their last six games and rank fourth nationwide in scoring defense and have won their games by an average margin of 29 points—except for their 33-29 win over Washington.

The Pac-12 title game against Oregon will be crucial for Utah.

The Big 12 is still alive

No. 9 Oklahoma continues to live dangerously, scraping past Texas Christian University 28-24 on Saturday, a week after needing a record comeback to have the better of Baylor.

The Bears, meanwhile, responded to their first loss of the season with a 24-10 over Texas and have locked in a conference title game against the Sooners.

At 11-1 neither program is currently in the top four, but Oklahoma could boost his resume with wins against No. 24 Oklahoma State on Saturday and another win over Baylor in the title game.

Top 10 prediction for Week 14