Rankings: Alabama Holds Big Lead As Number One Team

December 20, 2020 by Staff

With the conference championship games in the books and the regular season finished, Alabama (11-0) checks in as the No. 1 team with a 7.14-point edge over Ohio State (6-0). The Tide and Buckeyes are the only two remaining undefeated teams among Power 5 conferences and independents.

A trio of teams from Group of Five conferences - Cincinnati (9-0), Coastal Carolina (11-0) and San Jose State (7-0) - also managed to escape the season with unblemished marks. The Bearcats are ranked 7th, the Chanticleers 15th and the Spartans 17th.

Ohio State moved up from 3rd to 2nd with its 22-10 win over Northwestern in the Big Ten championship game, coupled with Notre Dame (10-1) losing 34-10 to Clemson in the ACC Championship contest. The Irish dropped from 2nd to 4th while the Tigers moved up from 4th to 3rd.

Thus, if the playoff teams were seeded based on the Congrove Computer Rankings, Alabama would face Notre Dame in one semifinal game and Ohio State would face-off with Clemson in the other.

Alabama and Notre Dame have never met in a playoff era game, while the Tigers and Buckeyes.have done this dance twice before with Clemson winning both games. Just last year, #2 seed Ohio State fell 29-23 to #3 seed Clemson in the semifinal game played in the Fiesta Bowl. The Tigers also toppled the Buckeyes in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl 31-0 when Clemson was the #2 seed.

According to the Congrove Computer Rankings, Texas A&M (8-1) and Indiana (6-1) are the first two out.

USC (5-1) checks in at No. 8 as the Trojans slipped from 5th with the 31-24 loss to Oregon in the PAC-12 championship game.

Oklahoma (8-2), a 27-21 winner over Iowa State for the Big 12 title, moves up from 10th to 9th.

Georgia rounds out the top 10.

Louisiana-Lafayette (9-1) comes in at No. 11. The Ragin' Cajuns had their Sun Belt title game showdown with Coastal Carolina canceled due to covid issues within the Chanticleers' program.

BYU (10-1) is 12th, followed by Florida (8-3) and Iowa (6-2).

SEE: Complete Rankings