Strength of schedule is an important factor to consider when ranking the college football playoff hopefuls – as is the status of your reigning Heisman trophy winning quarterback. Yesterday it was reported that the NCAA was investigating Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston after allegations of point shaving arose. Couple that with FSU's seemingly easy schedule, and the body of work was enough to drop the Seminoles in this week's College Football Playoff ranking.
Despite being undefeated, FSU (9-0) dropped to No. 3 in the ranking behind No. 2 Oregon (9-1) and No. 1 Mississippi State (9-0).
TCU (8-1) and Alabama (8-1) round out the top five.
However, these rankings are subject to change. College Football Playoff committee chairman Jeff Long noted that the margin between the top teams is incredibly slim.
"I think the key for us – and again it's very, very close, it's very thin – we probably spent more time discussing those two teams plus TCU and Alabama," Long said. "It's razor thin, but in this week, based on this week's body of work... we felt like Oregon had a very slight edge on Florida State."
The Oregon Ducks have one more win against top-25 competition than FSU and have also secured two of three wins against ranked opponents on the road. This includes an impressive win over Utah compared to Florida State's relatively easy win against Virginia last week.
Both the Ducks and the Seminoles are free of ranked opponents until their respective conference title games. Although the difference between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds is minimal, the positioning will impact how tough of an opponent both teams will play.
Arizona State, Baylor, Ohio State, Auburn and Mississippi make up the bottom half of the top-10.
