The top three of the Week 11 College Football Playoff rankings was identical to Week 10, but a new team debuted at the No. 4 spot.
After last week’s No. 4, Texas A&M, was upset by unranked Mississippi State, Washington moved up one spot from No. 5 to No. 4 in the rankings unveiled by the selection committee Tuesday night. The Huskies came in behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Michigan, all of which held steady to their rank of the previous week.
“The deliberations over much of the rankings this week were long and detailed,” said selection chairman Kirby Hocutt. “There are very close calls at virtually every level. It is clear every member of this committee pays close attention to these games and they come prepared to discuss each team in great detail.”
With its loss, A&M slid all the way down to No. 8, paving the way for several teams to climb in the rankings. Ohio State and Louisville each slid up a spot to Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, while Wisconsin (No. 7, up from No. 8), Auburn (still at No. 9) and Penn State (No. 10, up from No. 12) rounded out the top 10.
Throughout the week, many wondered if Ohio State (8-1), which destroyed last week’s No. 10 Nebraska 62-3 on Saturday night, would slide past unbeaten Washington, but the Huskies, after a 66-27 win over Cal, were ranked higher by the committee.
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There were plenty of risers in this week’s rankings, with No. 11 Oklahoma (No. 14 last week), No. 12 Colorado (No. 15 last week), No. 13 Oklahoma State (No. 18 last week), No. 14 Virginia Tech (No. 19 last week), No. 16 West Virginia (No. 20 last week), No. 17 North Carolina (No. 21 last week) and No. 18 Florida State (No. 22 last week) all jumping up at least three spots compared to Week 10.
The two notable drop-offs in the rankings were Nebraska, which dropped from No. 10 down to No. 19 after its blowout loss in Columbus, and LSU, which plummeted from No. 13 all the way to No. 24 following a 10-0 defeat at the hands of top-ranked Alabama.
Elsewhere, SEC East frontrunner Florida dropped from No. 11 to unranked after a lackluster showing at Arkansas. Baylor, after its second loss in a row, also dropped from the rankings. The Bears were No. 17 last week.
USC and Arkansas made their debut in the 2016 CFP rankings at No. 20 and No. 25.
Here is the full Top 25:
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
