Utah moves up to No. 13 in latest College Football Playoff rankings

SALT LAKE CITY — In the second week of the release of the College Football Playoff rankings, Utah got some good news.

Utah got a convincing win on the field against Arizona on Saturday to move to 5-1 in Pac-12 play, and moved up one spot to No. 13 in the latest playoff rankings that were released Tuesday night on ESPN. The rankings don't likely mean much for the Utes, whose playoff opportunities have withered, but it keeps Utah in contention for a potential New Year's Six bid, though the Rose Bowl seems like the only option.

The Utes are one of five teams from the Pac-12 ranked in the selection committee's top 25, and one of four teams inside the top 15. Oregon, which remains undefeated in conference play, moved up to No. 6 and is the Pac-12's most likely team to reach a playoff spot for the first time since Washington's semifinal appearance in 2017.

Behind the Ducks is a tight race with the two Los Angeles school with USC at No. 8 and UCLA at No. 12. Washington, which replaces Oregon State in the rankings after a win over the Beavers last week, moved into the top 25 and No. 25.

The logjam in the rankings for the Pac-12 will become more clear after a pivotal Nov. 19 matchup that will also likely determine the conference title race as Utah travels to Eugene with hopes to dethrone the Pac-12's top team, and UCLA and USC battle in a rivalry game that has a lot on the line. Playoff selection committee chair Boo Corrigan gave insight into why USC was ranked higher than UCLA.

"I think the 1-point loss by USC at Utah, going for 2, the emotion of that game is something that the committee certainly has talked about the job that Caleb Williams has done with the 28 touchdown passes, one of the top offenses in the country, putting up 41 points," Corrigan said. "That being said, there's a lot of respect for UCLA in that game, with their one loss being to Oregon by 15 at Oregon.

"Again, we're taking what we have to date and going to continue to evaluate and make sure that what we're doing and how we're looking at this is in the best interest of college football and making sure we get the top 15 right."

Should Utah upset the Ducks at home, the Utes have a shot to return to their fourth conference championship game appearance in five seasons and will require an arduous tiebreaker process to identify the top two teams in the conference for the title game.

While the rankings mean little at this time of the season, they do show how the selection committee views the Pac-12 and the four teams that rank inside the top 15. And with three weeks left to the regular season, the Pac-12 sits in a more favorable spot than they have in several years.

On Tuesday, the selection committee replaced its No. 1 team with Georgia, who easily moved past an undefeated Tennessee team to reclaim their spot at the top of the rankings and in prime position to defend its national title.

Behind the Bulldogs in the rankings is No. 2 Ohio State, followed by No. 3 Michigan, and No. 4 TCU. Just outside of the four-team playoff is No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Oregon and No. 7 LSU. The Tigers are the highest-ranked two-loss team in the country.

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