On Tuesday morning, the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote on Twitter, “Today, we have the opportunity to exercise one of our most precious rights ... the right to vote. Go to your local polls and cast your ballot!”
Rice was casting another important ballot Tuesday, at the Gaylord Texan hotel near Dallas, for the second College Football Playoff rankings.
The selection committee, on which Rice is one of 12 active members, left Mississippi State, Florida State and Auburn in the top three spots and moved Oregon up one spot to round out the top four.
Unbeaten Mississippi State remained No. 1 after a late interception helped the host Bulldogs defeat Arkansas, 17-10. Florida State, whose No. 2 ranking last week drew skepticism from those who noted that its only two impressive wins had come in close games at home, rallied in the second half to beat Louisville, 42-31, on the road. Auburn maintained its standing by holding off Mississippi on the road, 35-31, while the Rebels fell to No. 11 from No. 4.
The committee might have taken into consideration that Mississippi’s leading playmaker, the sophomore receiver Laquon Treadwell, sustained a gruesome season-ending leg injury near the goal line with just over a minute remaining in the game. Rounding out the top 10 were No. 5 Alabama, Texas Christian, Kansas State, Michigan State, Arizona State and Notre Dame at No. 10.
The final rankings, to be released Dec. 7 after several conferences hold championship games, will determine the six playoff-affiliated bowls, including the two semifinals, which will be held at the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. The championship game will be held Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
The committee chairman Jeff Long, Arkansas’s athletic director, said on ESPN that the decision to seed Oregon fourth reflected the Ducks’ “body of work,” including a home win over No. 8 Michigan State in the season’s second week and a road win over No. 18 U.C.L.A.
Alabama has a better ranking than T.C.U. despite identical records and comparable résumés, Long said, because of “the film.”
“The committee members compared those teams, and at the end of the day we felt like Alabama, at this point, thus far in the season, is a better team,” he said.
Though dropping Mississippi seven spots might seem harsh, the Rebels are the highest-ranked two-loss team. The committee was harsher, perhaps, to Georgia, whose 38-20 loss to unranked Florida dropped the Bulldogs to No. 20 from No. 11.
It also may be time for the Big Ten to panic. Michigan State had a bye last weekend, but instead of moving up a spot as Mississippi fell, the Spartans were leapfrogged by Kansas State, which beat Oklahoma State, 48-14. The Spartans have a home game Saturday against No. 14 Ohio State.
Notre Dame also stayed put after beating Navy, 49-39, in Landover, Md. Instead, Arizona State climbed to No. 9 from No. 14 after defeating No. 17 Utah at home.
Much of these preliminary rankings will become moot in the remaining weeks when several high-ranked teams play each other. For instance, Notre Dame plays at Arizona State on Saturday. Head-to-head results are among several criteria the committee has been assigned to consider.
The battle for the berth in the six playoff-affiliated bowls that is guaranteed to the so-called Group of Five conferences took a turn after East Carolina, ranked No. 23 last week, lost to Temple, 20-10, in Philadelphia. This week, the committee declined to rank any team from those conferences. Marshall (8-0) could be the next in line. At season’s end, if no Group of Five conference champion is ranked in the top 25, the committee will continue ranking teams until one is.
Full Rankings
1. Mississippi State (8-0)
2. Florida State (8-0)
3. Auburn (7-1)
4. Oregon (8-1)
5. Alabama (7-1)
6. T.C.U. (7-1)
7. Kansas State (7-1)
8. Michigan State (7-1)
9. Arizona State (7-1)
10. Notre Dame (7-1)
11. Mississippi (7-2)
12. Baylor (7-1)
13. Nebraska (8-1)
14. Ohio State (7-1)
15. Oklahoma (6-2)
16. Louisiana State (7-2)
17. Utah (6-2)
18. U.C.L.A. (7-2)
19. Arizona (6-2)
20. Georgia (6-2)
21. Clemson (6-2)
22. Duke (7-1)
23. West Virginia (6-3)
24. Georgia Tech (7-2)
25. Wisconsin (6-2)