UPDATED POWER RANKINGS

Georgia remains the top dog in this week's power rankings. The Bulldogs may have not ran all over Kentucky yesterday but did enough to keep the top spot. The defense is the best in the country and will provide fits for any and all comers. Ohio State may have had a chance to retake the #1 spot had the Buckeyes taken care of Maryland in easier fashion than they actually did. The Buckeyes offense is fantastic but the defense regressed a bit in College Park. The Crimson Tide stayed in third but have little to no realistic opportunity at reaching the CFP unless some truly historic things occur. Meanwhile, Tennessee finds itself in the same circumstance after being trounced at South Carolina. The Vols will need to settle for an upper echelon non-playoff bowl at best. Michigan will remain the CFP for now, but the potential loss of star running back Blake Corum is obviously a massive concern. The Wolverines should be getting more than a touchdown in Columbus. USC sneaked by UCLA in Pasadena in an all time classic. What a game that was. The Trojans lack a real defense and might need to win the PAC-12 Championship definitively to justify a CFP invite. But don't forget: USC must defeat a surging Notre Dame team first. Clemson has been a consistent presence in the top ten of the rankings and is inching ever so slightly closer to being a true contender. The Tigers have two relatively tough games against South Carolina and North Carolina remaining. If the can get by those teams, a CFP appearance would hinge on other results outside of their control. LSU comes in at tenth after defeating UAB as expected. These Tigers are rumored to have a realistic chance at being the first two loss CFP participant. Brian Kelly can get his squad into the playoff only by winning the SEC Championship over top rated Georgia. Even then, a trip to the semi-finals will not be guaranteed. Finally, TCU dropped a spot to twelfth. The Horned Frogs came as close to losing as possible. Truth be told, TCU is living by the seat of their pants and seem to need all the 50/50 plays to go their way. Nevertheless, they remain unbeaten in a Power 5 conference. 

The most notable move near the top, beyond those mentioned above, is probably Florida State. The Noles moved up to eleven and really should have been closer to that a while ago. A decent bowl game awaits should FSU take care of Florida. Penn State is really good despite their one spot drop. They can contend with pretty much anyone outside of the most elite opponents. Kansas State is surging and pose a strong threat to TCU should those two meet in the Big 12 Championship. It would be surprising if the committee took TCU with a conference championship loss over some of the others. Rounding out the top 25, Illinois made a nice jump that might be a bit overreactive to a tremendous performance and near win at the Big House. 

Other Notable Moves

North Carolina finally lost a game that shows they have been highly overrated by the public and a lot of the media. The Heels really though they had a CFP chance. However, the schedule was far too light to ever be considered a true contender. An embarrassing outing against lowly Georgia Tech puts to bed any thoughts that this team was legitimate.

South Carolina did not just cover against Tennessee; South Carolina did not just defeat Tennessee; South Carolina absolutely dominated Tennessee. The Gamecocks controlled the game start to finish and quited the Vols' faithful clamoring for a possible three SEC team CFP. South Carolina has another opportunity to spoil Clemson's CFP chance on the road next week.

Fresno State and UTSA moved up a ton of spots. Both of their ratings were too low most of the season for one reason or another. Mainly, Fresno plummeted given terrible results when star passer Jake Haener was injured. UTSA simply needed that one blowout win to get them back to last year's number. 

Let's end with Clark Lea and the fantastic job he is doing in Nashville. Vanderbilt is playing like a bowl team. Unfortunately, the Commodores would need to pull off an even bigger upset over in-state rival Tennessee to get to a bowl. It is certainly not impossible, but it would be stunning. Regardless, it has been a great season. Hopefully, Vanderbilt continues its rise and can benefit from the impending realignment of the SEC's divisions. 

The following rankings reflect power ratings. The ratings are updated every week to reflect each team's performance against both its on-field opponent and the betting spread, or line.

Ranking	Team	Prev. Ranking
1	Georgia	1
2	Ohio State	2
3	Alabama	3
4	Tennessee	4
5	Michigan	5
6	USC	6
7	Clemson	8
8	Utah	7
9	Ole Miss	9
10	LSU	10
11	Florida State	16
12	TCU	11
13	Penn State	12
14	Oregon	13
15	Texas	14
16	Oklahoma	15
17	Kentucky	20
18	Kansas State	21
19	Oregon State	22
20	Arkansas	18
21	Mississippi State	17
22	Baylor	19
23	Wisconsin	23
24	Washington	24
25	Illinois	35
26	Notre Dame	25
27	UCLA	27
28	Wake Forest	30
29	Central Florida	26
30	Florida	29
31	Iowa	31
32	Texas Tech	40
33	Cincinnati	33
34	Oklahoma State	34
35	North Carolina	28
36	Iowa State	36
37	Washington State	39
38	Louisville	37
39	Tulane	41
40	Maryland	46
41	Purdue	42
42	Minnesota	32
43	South Carolina	48
44	Pittsburgh	44
45	Texas A&M	38
46	SMU	45
47	Fresno State	63
48	UTSA	61
49	Auburn	57
50	Missouri	49
51	West Virginia	47
52	Syracuse	50
53	Michigan State	53
54	East Carolina	43
55	NC State	51
56	BYU	54
57	Boise State	56
58	Kansas	52
59	Air Force	55
60	Appalachian State	58
61	Duke	74
62	San Diego State	75
63	Marshall	67
64	Miami	62
65	Western Kentucky	64
66	South Alabama	70
67	James Madison	60
68	Houston	72
69	Liberty	59
70	Toledo	65
71	Northwestern	69
72	Arizona	66
73	Troy	68
74	UAB	71
75	Nebraska	77
76	Army	73
77	Arizona State	76
78	California	78
79	San Jose State	79
80	Virginia	80
81	North Texas	81
82	Vanderbilt	88
83	Coastal Carolina	82
84	Stanford	83
85	Memphis	84
86	Navy	94
87	Indiana	89
88	Georgia Tech	101
89	Louisiana Lafayette	86
90	Ohio	98
91	Georgia State	87
92	Georgia Southern	85
93	Southern Mississippi	90
94	Utah State	107
95	Rutgers	93
96	Wyoming	97
97	Miami Ohio	95
98	Tulsa	96
99	Kent State	91
100	Old Dominion	99
101	Virginia Tech	102
102	Eastern Michigan	108
103	UNLV	100
104	Boston College	103
105	Buffalo	105
106	Ball State	92
107	UTEP	111
108	UConn	109
109	Florida Atlantic	112
110	Rice	110
111	Central Michigan	104
112	Middle Tennessee State	113
113	Northern Illinois	106
114	Bowling Green	119
115	South Florida	116
116	Texas State	115
117	Arkansas State	117
118	Louisiana Monroe	114
119	Western Michigan	118
120	Louisiana Tech	120
121	Temple	121
122	Charlotte	123
123	Akron	124
124	Colorado State	125
125	Hawai'i	128
126	Colorado	126
127	New Mexico	122
128	Nevada	127
129	New Mexico State	129
130	UMass	130
131	Florida International	131