Ohio State football rises to No. 2 in College Football Playoff rankings

The Game will be a showdown of top-5 teams.

Ohio State moved up to No. 2 from No. 4, and Michigan went from No. 6 to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night.

Ohio State crushed Michigan State last week 56-7 after taking a 49-0 halftime lead. Michigan routed Maryland 59-18.

"The dominating win over Michigan State certainly got the committee's attention," CFP selection committee chair Gary Barta said.

Barta, who is the Iowa athletic director, described Ohio State's performance as "incredible," and said it allayed concerns about OSU's defense as well as bolstering the view of its top-ranked offense. Ohio State held MSU's star running back to 25 yards in six carries.

"They had three receivers all over 100 yards for the game, and C.J. Stroud played great again," Barta said.

"We all know that Kenneth Walker is a great running back, and Ohio State was able to hold him pretty much ineffective," Barta said. "Once the score got away, I think Michigan State had to play a little different. But a solid performance both offensively and defensively."

As for Michigan, Barta described the Wolverines as a complete, balanced team.

"Their offense and defense are both ranked nationally in most categories. Their best win to date is at Wisconsin. They also had a good win at Penn State. A very good football team, well-balanced, and obviously (we're) looking forward to watching Ohio State and Michigan play this weekend."

It was a given that both teams would move up after No. 3 Oregon lost 38-7 to Utah.

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Undefeated Georgia remained No. 1. Fellow unbeaten Cincinnati moved to No. 4 after thrashing Southern Methodist.

Alabama struggled to hold off Arkansas 42-35 last week. The Crimson Tide slipped from No. 2 to 3.

Michigan State fell from No. 7 to 12 after the shellacking in Columbus. Wisconsin, which is the favorite to emerge from a muddled Big Ten West to play in the conference championship game, is No. 14.

Bill Rabinowitz covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at brabinowitz@dispatch.com or on Twitter @brdispatch.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State in the CFP: Where is OSU ranked?