Instant Reaction: Ole Miss moves up in latest CFP Rankings

As expected, Ole Miss moved up one spot in the updated College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night.

The Rebels were a beneficiary of Oklahoma’s upset win over then-No. 4 Alabama, moving them up one spot along with Georgia and Texas Tech, while the top three remained the same.

If these rankings were used to form the official playoff field, No. 6 Ole Miss would host a playoff game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium against No. 11 Miami.

It also confirms an earlier thought about the Rebels’ chances at making the playoff.

Obviously, if Ole Miss brings the Golden Egg back to Oxford next week, it’s in the playoff.

But if the Rebels somehow lose to Mississippi State, it doesn’t look like it would knock them out of the playoff.

With Oklahoma ranked No. 8 and Ole Miss holding a head-to-head road victory against the Sooners, how could the committee rank the Rebels lower than the Sooners?

At first glance a loss to a Mississippi State that’s 1-6 in SEC games after starting 4-0 would be a “bad” loss. But it would be a road game against a team that’s realistically three plays away from being 8-3 right now.

Since the committee evaluates things like offensive line play, certainly that would be a consideration.

However, there is still two weeks left of games to be played. Ole Miss isn’t playing a game on the gridiron this week (but it is playing a game on the coaching carousel), so we’ll see if any major upsets shake up the rankings before the Egg Bowl.

(Side note: Nice move by ESPN putting the rankings reveal show between two college basketball games.)

Here’s the complete, updated CFP rankings released Tuesday night:

CFP Committee Top 25 Rankings

1. Ohio State (10-0)
2. Indiana (11-0)
3. Texas A&M (10-0)
4. Georgia (9-1)
5. Texas Tech (10-1)
6. Ole Miss (10-1)
7. Oregon (9-1)
8. Oklahoma (8-2)
9. Notre Dame (8-2)
10. Alabama (8-2)
11. BYU (9-1)
12. Utah (8-2)
13. Miami (8-2)
14. Vanderbilt (8-2)
15. USC (8-2)
16. Georgia Tech (9-1)
17. Texas (7-3)
18. Michigan (8-2)
19. Virginia (9-2)
20. Tennessee (7-3)
21. Illinois (7-3)
22. Missouri (7-3)
23. Houston (8-2)
24. Tulane (8-2)
25. Arizona State (7-3)