TCU Jumps Florida State to #3 in CFP Rankings

TCU and Baylor each play in the Big 12.

TCU and Baylor played earlier in the season, with Baylor winning on a last second field goal.

But, in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings released Tuesday night, TCU is #3.  Baylor is #6.

That's the biggest surprise in the rankings this week.  Alabama remained #1 with Oregon #2.  Florida State, the nation's only undefeated team, is ranked #4.

The shakeup happened after Florida State squeaked by Florida, while TCU hammered Texas this past weekend.  Baylor, meanwhile, struggled to beat a weak Texas Tech team.

Ohio State, despite losing their second quarterback this season, is ranked fifth and is poised to move into the playoff if they beat Wisconsin and any of the top four should lose.

The committee chairman, Jeff Long, said TCU's overall body of work was better than Baylors, despite the result of the head to head competition.  One of the factors was the non conference schedule, where TCU has a win over Minnesota, while Baylor was beating Buffalo, which has a losing record.

Baylor can make up some schedule strength points by playing Kansas State, but would probably have to win convincingly to have any chance to move ahead of TCU.

Baylor was sixth, followed by Arizona, Michigan State, Kansas State and Mississippi State.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Arizona would knock off Oregon in the Pac-12 title game, since it would be the second time the Wildcats were victorious over the Ducks.