UCF became the first team from a Group of 5 conference to crack the top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, moving up two spots to No. 9 in the latest poll released Tuesday evening.
The top eight teams remain the same from last week. Alabama stayed No. 1 atop the rankings, followed by No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 4 Michigan.
The Knights (10-0) moved a step closer to a possible spot in the two semifinal games with an emphatic win over Cincinnati in front of a nationally televised audience Saturday, extending the nation's longest winning streak to 23 games.
UCF jumped Ohio State to get to the ninth spot despite the fact that the Buckeyes won last week.
"While UCF may not have the depth or talent of Ohio State, right now UCF has the better all-around team," Playoff chair Rob Mullens said when asked of the reason for the move. "We watched UCF have a strong performance against Cincinnati. When you watch Ohio State, they struggled against Maryland."
This is the fourth of the six weekly rankings, with the final standings revealed Dec. 2.
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