For just the second time this season, a new set of College Football Playoff Rankings will be revealed on Tuesday evening, but after being idle, the Oklahoma Sooners didn't do anything to impress or lose favor with the CFP committee making decisions. However, the biggest fear is that the Sooners get forgotten after a week out of sight.
Recency bias tends to factor into every major poll, especially for rankings that theoretically get reset every week like the CFP rankings. However, after a Week 11 of close calls as the Sooners watched and OU head coach spent his Saturday at Clemson, there shouldn't be a major shift for the Sooners. Emphasis on shouldn't, though, as this is where the Sooners should be placed in the top 12 of the Week 12 CFP rankings if they're not forgotten.
This spot belonged to Ohio State in the initial CFP rankings, and even I had Texas A&M at No. 3 last week, but the Aggies just keep winning in the toughest conference in college football. Yes, Missouri was without its starting QB, but the Aggies still hammered the Tigers 38-17 on the road Saturday for their third ranked win of the season so far. Texas A&M is just beating better teams on a weekly basis in a soundly manner than Ohio State and Indiana are.
Ohio State was No. 1 in the real initial CFP rankings, but second in these rankings last week behind Indiana. The difference now is a common opponent with Indiana. The Hoosiers just needed a miracle to get past Penn State, which has an interim coach, while the Buckeyes destroyed that same team 38-14 the week before.
Although it's a tough road environment, Indiana needed a miracle and one of the greatest catches in college football history to survive a Penn State team that's 3-6 with an interim head coach. Recency bias, which I argued against above, could be at play here, but the common matchup against Penn State is currently the best gauge between Indiana and Ohio State until they likely meet in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Nothing was worth mixing up 4-6 between Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss. These three have proven where they belong among each other until one slips up. Alabama has a challenge this week, though, hosting the Sooners on Saturday.
Georgia will also have to avoid an upset this week against Texas in Athens. Both the Sooners and Longhorns are desperate for wins this week with their CFP lives on the line, so consider Georgia and Alabama on upset watch to possibly shift everything next week.
Unlike Alabama and Georgia, Ole Miss basically has a cakewalk the rest of the way and just needs to avoid an upset and hope those ahead suffer a blow to get a first-round bye.
Texas Tech got a boost in the top 12 this week after handling No. 7 BYU 29-7. However, the Red Raiders still haven't done enough yet to surpass the SEC trio ahead of them.
Oregon survived a scare from Iowa with a field goal as time expired. Although it's a ranked win for the Ducks, Iowa will likely fall out of the CFP rankings on Tuesday evening, so Oregon still doesn't have that impressive of a resume despite continuing to win. If OU or Texas pull off upsets on Saturday, then both would deserve to jump the Ducks, even with two losses.
Thanks to that head-to-head win in the Red River Rivalry, the Longhorns deserve to be ahead of the Sooners until they suffer a third loss, which is possible on Saturday against Georgia on the road. However, for some reason, the committee will likely again put Notre Dame ahead of OU and Texas.
The Sooners belong as the last team to sneak into the 12-team field, even if the committee will likely have them on the outside looking in. However, the Sooners' current sitting really doesn't matter.
OU travels to Alabama on Saturday for a game that can send its season in drastically different directions. A loss will end the Sooners' playoff hopes, but an upset could catapult them ahead of several teams next week and basically solidify their playoff spot barring a late upset.
BYU was sitting pretty last week before losing to Texas Tech handedly, but is now fighting for its CFP life. The Cougars don't have an impressive resume, but at 8-1, they still have one less loss than Notre Dame and the same number of ranked wins (1).
After being ahead of OU and Texas, Notre Dame was the most controversial team of the first CFP rankings after not even being in the top 12 of these rankings.
The Fighting Irish thumped a solid Navy squad 49-10 on Saturday, but they still need to show they deserve to be ahead of Texas, OU and BYU. However, even with playing Pitt on the road Saturday, Notre Dame still won't really prove anything. Regardless, the Fighting Irish will just end up cruising into the CFP while teams above them are knocked out by tougher opponents.