The College Football Playoff committee had one surprise when its initial ranking was released Tuesday evening. As the last remaining unbeatens among the Power Five, Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame appeared set to be in the top three spots. The Crimson Tide and Tigers were in the first two places as expected. However, it was LSU ahead of the Fighting Irish in the third spot even though the Tigers have one loss. LSU does have some impressive wins that boosted its stock, including a defeat of Miami on a neutral field, a win at Auburn and an upset of Georgia at home. Notre Dame did beat No. 5 Michigan at home in its opener. But the rest of its resume is not as strong. While the news might be upsetting to Fighting Irish supporters, there is certain to be change by next week. Alabama and LSU will meet Saturday in Baton Rouge. The loser likely will fall out of the top four. Michigan, Georgia and Oklahoma were just off the pace in fifth through seventh, respectively, and could move up. Rounding out the top 10 are Washington State, Kentucky and Ohio State. PLAYOFF RANKINGS:What the selection committee got right and wrong ANALYSIS:First rankings shows shifting subjectivity of playoff process SCENARIOS:College Football Playoff possibilities from likely to total chaos Central Florida the lone unbeaten not in the Power Five was No. 12. Though the Knights have won their last 20 games, their prognosis for making the field seems dim. Committee chairman Rob Mullens noted UCF is the lone team not have been a team with a winning record through the first nine weeks. The top four teams in final rankings on Dec. 2 will play in the semifinals. Those two games will be at in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29. The championship game will be played on Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif,, at Levi's Stadium. College Football Playoff committee Top 25 1. Alabama (8-0) 2. Clemson (8-0) 3. Louisiana State (7-1) 4. Notre Dame (8-0) 5. Michigan (7-1) 6. Georgia (7-1) 7. Oklahoma (7-1) 8. Washington State (7-1) 9. Kentucky (7-1) 10. Ohio State (7-1) 11. Florida (6-2) 12. Central Florida (7-0) 13. West Virginia (6-1) 14. Penn State (6-2) 15. Utah (6-2) 16. Iowa (6-2 17. Texas (6-2) 18. Mississippi State (5-3) 19. Syracuse (6-2) 20. Texas A&M (5-3) 21. North Carolina State (5-2) 22. Boston College (6-2) 23. Fresno State (7-1) 24. Iowa State (4-3) 25. Virginia (6-2)<doc-sep>With apologies to any SEC copyrights, now it just means more. The Power Rankings you see before you indicate what you'll probably see at the top Tuesday night. The College Football Playoff Rankings will debut the same way we have it here (in some order): Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Notre Dame. Among the questions to be answered … Can Alabama get through November unscathed? The Tide have done so in that month only twice in the five championship seasons assembled by Nick Saban. Does Alabama even have to beat LSU this week? Maybe not. Three times in November, Saban's championship teams at Bama have lost. Last year's was the latest loss in a title run -- to Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Are the Pac-12 and Big 12 most at risk in the playoff? The Big 12 lost a top 10 team in Texas. Washington State is the last hope for the Pac-12. Can Notre Dame seal the deal? The biggest game of the season looms this week against … Northwestern. Who would have thunk it? Is LSU for real? Really, do you really have to ask? One man's guess, but the Tigers this week will keep it within 22 points (Alabama's lowest margin of victory) and under 39 points (Alabama's fewest points). Is the carnage over? Absolutely not. Nine of the top 25 lost; six of them dropped out. Biggest Movers 8 Virginia 8 Texas Rk Teams Chg Rcrd 1 Alabama Bye. How rich are the Tide? A game between its top two quarterback commits was nationally televised. Thompson High's Taulia Tagovailoa (with brother Tua on the sidelines) rallied from a 28-0 deficit to beat Paul Tyson's Hewitt-Trussville squad 63-49. Tyson is Bear Bryant's great grandson. -- 13-0 2 LSU Bye. Game of the Century III? The over/under on folks in Tiger Stadium's parking lost starts at 100,000 with Alabama coming to town. No one has been within 22 points of the Tide. This one might be decided with both teams playing in the 20s. -- 5-5 3 Clemson One theory on why Dabo Swinney is boat racing teams in an obviously down ACC: With a weakened schedule, Clemson doesn't want to be that fourth seed facing Alabama in the semis. -- 10-2 4 Notre Dame As expected, the Irish routed Navy 44-22. They outgained the Midshipmen 315-72 -- at halftime. Now comes a suddenly tough game at Northwestern. The Wildcats may play for the Big Ten championship. -- 10-2 5 Oklahoma Four more touchdowns throwing and running for Kyler Murray. More than 700 yards for the Sooners against Kansas State. No pressure, OU, but the Big 12 is counting on you to win the rest of your games and get to the playoff. 2 9-2 6 Michigan Bye. The Big Ten's best team -- and nation's best defense -- welcomes in Penn State. Memories of being blown out at Beaver Stadium have to linger. A loss knocks the Wolverines out of the playoff. 2 2-4 7 Georgia Jake Fromm returned to form throwing three touchdowns against Florida. But where was Justin Fields? He did not take a snap. He didn't need to. Winner-take-all game at Kentucky next. 3 8-2 8 UCF Bye. The CFP's biggest lightning rod awaits its standing in the first playoff rankings on Tuesday. Is McKenzie Milton healthy? Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to watch the Knights. Their current 20-game winning streak is the longest since Alabama won 26 in a row from 2015-16. 2 6-4 9 Kentucky The Wildcats can absolutely beat Georgia in a winner-take-all game for the SEC East. Their defense will keep it close. Benny Snell will be able to run against a suspect Georgia front. It took a near-miracle at Mizzou but here Kentucky is. 3 5-6 10 Washington State Did the Pac-12 Network (with its limited viewership) cost Gardner Minshew his best Heisman moment against Stanford? Did the non-targeting call against USC cost Washington State an undefeated season? Mike Leach has won three straight over the Cardinal and four in a row over Oregon, the last two opponents. 4 1-3 11 Ohio State Bye. Reports of strife between Urban Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith. A haggard-looking Meyer after that loss to Purdue. Doubts everywhere -- running game, offensive line, defense. Buckeyes may be the most distressed elite team in the country. -- 7-1 12 West Virginia The Mountaineers got good and mad after an embarrassing loss at Iowa State. On Thursday night, West Virginia led 41-0 at halftime over Baylor. Will Grier was able to check out early with three touchdown passes in a bounce-back 58-14 win. 1 6-4 13 Texas I cannot explain how Oklahoma State can lose consecutive games to Iowa State and Kansas State. I can explain how the Cowboys beat Texas. They usually do. Oklahoma State ruined Texas' playoff hopes beating the Horns for the seventh time in the last nine meetings. 8 7-3 14 Florida The Gators are a Kelly Bryant -- or someone like him at quarterback -- from being able to beat the likes of Georgia. Florida was game taking an early third-quarter lead in the Cocktail Party but the Dawgs asserted themselves late. 5 8-4 15 Utah Utah vs Washington State is starting look like the Pac-12 championship game. The Utes rolled over UCLA on Friday night for their fourth in a row. 6 3-2 16 Houston The Cougars are now the chief challenger to UCF in the AAC. The teams do not meet but in knocking off undefeated South Florida, quarterback D'Eriq King accounted for seven touchdowns. That gives him 39 for the season. UCF's Milton holds the AAC record with 45. 7 3-5 17 Utah State The Aggies are the most impressive team in the Mountain West after thrashing New Mexico. A seven-game winning streak is tied for fifth-longest in the nation. Three of six touchdown drives took less than a minute. "There's times we score as quick as we do. There I said it," said coach Matt Wells.<doc-sep>Clemson has left a strong final impression on the College Football Playoff committee before the first rankings on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Georgia gets a big-time win over Florida, Penn State outlasts Iowa and Washington State keeps on winning. What else have we learned in Week 9? No. 2 Clemson 59, Florida State 10 The Tigers beat down rival Florida State so badly, Trevor Lawrence passed for a career-high 314 yards and did not even finish the third quarter. Clemson proved itself to be better in every single way, not only as the more talented team playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff, but the better coached and more disciplined team as well. But what truly was remarkable was seeing just how far apart these two programs have grown over the past two seasons. It was only three seasons ago that the Atlantic Division hung in the balance between these two teams. Now, Clemson has won four straight in the series, but not as decisively as it did on Saturday -- the 49-point defeat tying for the worst loss in Florida State history. So where is the most difficult test left on the schedule? Certainly not next week, when the Tigers host Louisville, a team that also is in shambles without Lamar Jackson. Perhaps at Boston College on Nov. 10. But as of right now, it is hard to imagine a scenario that does not feature Clemson in the playoff. -- Andrea Adelson No. 3 Notre Dame 44, Navy 22 At no point in Notre Dame's win against Navy were the Irish remotely in danger of losing, which is exactly what was expected from the country's third-ranked team. However, an early-game ankle sprain to senior linebacker Drue Tranquill is worrisome going into next week's game against Northwestern in Chicago. X-rays came back negative -- a kernel of good news -- but with Northwestern suddenly looking a like legitimate threat, Tranquill's recovery will be monitored closely throughout the week. -- Kyle Bonagura Oklahoma State 38, No. 6 Texas 35 Texas was essentially knocked out of the playoff picture, as Oklahoma State built a 17-point halftime lead before holding on for the win. The Longhorns could never recover from a disastrous defensive start, as the Cowboys gained 260 yards in the first quarter, the second-most Texas had allowed in any quarter over the last 15 years, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger tried to rally the Longhorns with a huge second half through the air, but Texas could never get over the hump. Because of the win over Oklahoma earlier this month, the Longhorns still control their own destiny to the Big 12 title game. But they will have to play much better defense than they did in Stillwater, especially with high-powered West Virginia on deck. -- Jake Trotter No. 7 Georgia 36, No. 9 Florida 17 Against Florida, D'Andre Swift finally showed flashes of the nifty runner that he was in his breakout freshman season. Limited by a groin injury much of the year, Swift rushed for a season-high 104 yards and a touchdown to finally give the Bulldogs some explosiveness they'd been lacking in the running game. With him and Elijah Holyfield, a 215-pound grinder, the Bulldogs have a lesser facsimile of the Nick Chubb-Sony Michel rushing duo that rampaged through the SEC for three years. They'll be needed to give Jake Fromm the sort of help he had clearly been missing in the first half of the season. -- Joel Anderson If nothing else, thanks to one incredible goal line stand, the Gators found out they've got every bit the toughness and resilience to stand up to one of the biggest bullies in the conference. Holding Georgia to zero yards on six plays from the 1-yard line in the third quarter was the highlight of the evening for the Gators, something for them to build upon in the wake of a three-score loss to their hated rival. All around that series, however, was evidence that Florida has a lot of work to do: costly turnovers by quarterback Feleipe Franks and a general lack of explosiveness eventually wore down its defense in the second half. Don't be surprised to see more of true freshman quarterback Emory Jones, who came in for a few plays throughout the game. -- Anderson No. 8 Oklahoma 51, Kansas State 14 As Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray orchestrated another dazzling offensive show, the Sooners' often-criticized defense put together arguably its most complete performance of the season, keeping OU relevant in the playoff race heading into the first CFP ranking of the season. Murray completed 17-of-22 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score -- all in the first half. It was his seventh straight game with at least three total touchdowns. The Sooners have averaged 26.7 points in the first half under Lincoln Riley, most in FBS over the past two seasons. When the committee deliberates over OU's place in the ranking this week, its weak strength of schedule so far could be equally as damaging as its loss to Texas. -- Heather Dinich No. 12 Kentucky 15, Missouri 14 With one final opportunity thanks to a pass interference penalty on Missouri, Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson zipped a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end C.J. Conrad with no time left on the clock for a comeback win that sets up a showdown next week against Georgia for the SEC East title. The winner will almost definitely play in the SEC championship game, and ESPN's FPI currently gives the Bulldogs a 79 percent chance to win. If Kentucky is going to have a shot at the upset, it's going to have to generate more offense to stand a chance. Kentucky struggled to sustain drives, converting on just 3 of 14 third-downs, and was held without a touchdown through the first three quarters. Despite being held under 100 yards rushing for the third time in his last four games, Benny Snell Jr. moved into second place on the Kentucky all-time rushing list. -- Dinich No. 13 West Virginia 58, Baylor 14 Welcome back, Will Grier.<doc-sep>The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.<doc-sep>
Let's take a look at the last AP Top 25 poll of October: RANK SCHOOL RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS 1 Alabama (60) 8-0 1,500 1 2 Clemson 8-0 1,433 2 3 Notre Dame 8-0 1,374 3 4 LSU 7-1 1,317 4 5 Michigan 7-1 1,240 5 6 Georgia 7-1 1,202 7 7 Oklahoma 7-1 1,132 8 8 Ohio State 7-1 1,022 11 9 UCF 7-0 1,014 10 10 Washington State 7-1 938 14 11 Kentucky 7-1 905 12 12 West Virginia 6-1 891 13 13 Florida 6-2 734 9 14 Penn State 6-2 733 17 15 Texas 6-2 719 6 16 Utah 6-2 593 23 17 Houston 7-1 403 NR 18 Utah State 7-1 340 NR 19 Iowa 6-2 323 18 20 Fresno State 7-1 261 NR 21 Mississippi State 5-3 204 NR 22 Syracuse 6-2 192 NR 23 Virginia 6-2 175 NR 24 Boston College 6-2 169 NR 25 Texas A&M 5-3 132 16 All things considered it was a fairly tame week, as the top five teams stayed the same. But Georgia notched a huge win over Florida on Saturday and rose one spot to No. 6. While the Bulldogs didn’t make up a ton of ground in the poll, it was still a significant win. No. 4 LSU has to play Alabama next week. Even though the Tigers beat the Bulldogs, Georgia’s win over Florida may mean it would jump a two-loss LSU in the event that it falls to Alabama. That’s not a foregone conclusion, of course. But it’s something to keep in mind. LSU still might stay ahead of Georgia if it loses, but the Florida win gives the Bulldogs a fighting shot. MORE: 5 Week 9 outcomes that could affect the CFP picture Washington State was another team that rose. The Cougars are up to No. 10 after taking care of Stanford. Washington State is likely the Pac-12’s only shot at sending a team to the College Football Playoff. Minshew leads Washington State in last-minute win Gardner Minshew has been a revelation under center. He threw for 438 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday and now has a 26:6 touchdown to interception ratio on the year. While the Cougars have a lot of ground to make up to leap into the top four, they’re a scary group right now. The offense is absolutely lethal, with playmakers everywhere you look. Ohio State rejoined the top 10 after a bye week as a result of a few teams ahead of the Buckeyes losing. One of them was Florida, which dropped four spots to No. 13. That feels a little harsh after losing to Georgia, but not much separates teams eight through 15 or so. Texas, which is the 15th team, had a really tough loss to Oklahoma State. The Longhorns were the Big 12’s most likely Playoff team coming into the week. As it always seems to turn out, that distinction now belongs to Oklahoma. Again, falling nine spots for losing to a good Oklahoma State team may seem excessive, but the competition is real in that part of the poll. Kentucky gets the win on the last play of the game Moving on down the rankings, a bunch of new teams joined the AP Top 25 this week. Seven, to be exact, which is the most in one week since 1989. MORE: College football's top 25 re-ranked by offensive line weight It’s quite impressive that No. 17 Houston and No. 18 Utah State went from unranked to inside the top 20 in a week, but that’s how good both of those schools have been lately. The Cougars put 57(!) points on then-No. 21 South Florida on Saturday, while Utah State put up 61 on New Mexico. It’s safe to say both of those offenses are in midseason form. Fresno State, another Group of Five school, is ranked 20th. It’s the time of year where Power Five teams are beating each other up week after week. Programs like Houston, Utah State and Fresno State deserve to be recognized, and it’s nice to see them get their due. ALSO: How the first College Football Playoff rankings predict the semifinals The top of the poll may not have had as much activity as weeks prior, but next week should be interesting with LSU and Alabama squaring off. The first College Football Playoff rankings reveal also happens on Tuesday. How much will they resemble the AP’s? It will be fascinating to find out.