College Football Playoff Predictions After Week 11

Week 11 in college football was one for the history books, as weirdness reigned supreme and two of the four best teams in the country fell in defeat. This will undoubtedly cause one of the biggest shakeups in the playoff rankings we've seen in quite some time. Now that Alabama and Penn State have been knocked off course following some surprising upsets, this is what the college football playoff rankings should look like.

10. Baylor

Penn State has a case for this spot, but Matt Rhule's Bears will grab the No. 10 ranking by virtue of their unblemished 9-0 record. Baylor could easily be 5-4 given how their last four games have all gone down to the wire, but Charlie Brewer and the Bears have shown some real grit to grind out these wins. In what should be a preview of the Big 12 championship game, Baylor will face off against Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma this Saturday. After that matchup, we'll find out how good Baylor really is.

9. Oklahoma

Oklahoma's loss to Kansas State will loom large, and Baylor might be in first place in the conference, but Oklahoma remains the most likely Big 12 team to sneak into the playoff. They'll probably play Baylor twice this season, once next week and then possibly in Dallas for the Big 12 Championship game. Jalen Hurts and the offense are clicking, but the defense can't stop a nosebleed over the last few weeks. They need to get that unit whipped into shape if they want to beat Baylor and get a crack at the playoff.

8. Minnesota

Ski-U-Mah! PJ Fleck and the Gophers pulled off the upset of Sean Clifford and Penn State, riding a legendarily efficient day from Tanner Morgan and standout performances from Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman to a 31-26 win in Minneapolis. Minnesota proved that their early-season rumbles weren't representative of the type of team they had, but they still have some proving to do in the eyes of the committee. They play Iowa and Wisconsin in the coming weeks, which could push them up into the Top-4 discussion if they manage to win out.

7. Utah

Kyle Whittingham's Utah teams are never flashy, explosive, or record-setting, but they always manage to get the job done. Zack Moss' running paired with a dominant defensive line have basically secured at least the Pac-12 South title for the Utes, and give them just as good a shot as Oregon to make it into the playoff. The committee could hold their loss against USC and a third-string quarterback in Matt Fink against them if a couple other one-loss teams are vying for one of the last playoff spots, however.

6. Alabama

Alabama is probably not even going to make its conference title game this year after likely losing out on the SEC West following LSU's triumph, but Tua Tagovailoa and that offense are so dominant that you can't totally rule them out just yet. Tua managed to throw for 400 yards and four touchdowns against a defense full of first-rounders in one of the greatest regular season games in college football history, so this loss is by no means unforgivable in the committee's eyes. If chaos reigns and the best teams in the country lose, Alabama could sneak back into the Top 4.

5. Oregon

The Pac-12 may not be the deepest conference, but it's currently sporting two legit playoff contenders, with Justin Herbert and Oregon leading the way. With Arizona, Arizona State, and Oregon State still on the schedule, it's very likely Herbert and the Ducks can win out, setting up a matchup against Utah in the Pac-12 Championship. With their only loss of the year coming in a neutral site game against a good Auburn team, Mario Cristobal should snag a playoff spot if the Ducks get the job done the rest of the way.

4. Georgia

Jake Fromm, Kirby Smart, and Georgia have more than rebounded from their increasingly inexcusable loss to South Carolina at home, as they beat Missouri to a pulp in a 27-0 shutout. The committee has shown that SEC teams will always get a little boost, and that boost will be enough to push Georgia past the likes of Utah and Oregon. It will be very hard to for two SEC teams to get into the playoff this year, and it'll be even harder for a team who lost to a true freshman at home to make it, but Georgia has the horses to pull off a magical run.

3. Clemson

Now that Wake Forest will likely fall out of the rankings after losing to Virginia Tech, Clemson could go the entire year without beating a ranked team in the ACC. With the best win of their season, a Week 2 triumph over Texas A&M, looking less impressive by the week, the committee could easily prevent Clemson from rising too high in order to show they don't respect their level of competition. Still, Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne are dialed in right now, and the mighty Clemson offense will be every bit as difficult to knock off as they were during their unbeaten title run last season.

2. Ohio State

Imagine scoring 73 points in a conference game and going DOWN in the playoff rankings. Justin Fields and JK Dobbins barely had to break a sweat during the Buckeyes' dismantling of Maryland. The Big Ten champion is almost a lock to make it into the Top 4 this year, and right now Ohio State is lapping everyone else in the conference. As long as No. 1 and No. 2 are clicking, Ryan Day's Buckeyes should continue to dominate and end up in the playoff picture. We'll see in the Penn State and Michigan games just how much Ohio State misses Chase Young on the defensive line, as they weren't ever really tested by Maryland.

1. LSU

It's Joe Burrow's world, and we're all just living in it. The LSU quarterback went into the belly of the beast and proceeded to dominate, throwing for 393 yards and three touchdowns in a 46-41 win. In that historic triumph over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ed Orgeron proved that his quarterback should be the prohibitive Heisman favorite and that his Tigers are without the question the best team in college football at the moment. Of the four teams currently ranked in the Top 4, LSU is the surest bet to make it into the playoff and fight for a championship.