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Saturday’s 23-13 win over Purdue, coupled with losses by Iowa and Iowa State, propelled Northwestern up a two spots in the third edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings.
Third #CFBPlayoff Rankings:
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 15, 2017
2️⃣1️⃣ Memphis
2️⃣2️⃣ Stanford
2️⃣3️⃣ Northwestern
2️⃣4️⃣ Michigan
2️⃣5️⃣ Boise State
The Hawkeyes, last week’s #20, hurt Northwestern’s resume by falling out of the rankings entirely after being shellacked by Wisconsin, but the Wildcats still has a top-20 win thanks to #17 Michigan State. Northwestern also has losses to #10 Penn State and #5 Wisconsin (along with unranked Duke). Newly-ranked Michigan and #9 Ohio State round out the Big Ten’s Top 25 representatives.
The 7-3 Wildcats, who appeared in the rankings last week for the first time in two years, are now winners of five straight, and look poised to maintain their place in the rankings for the rest of the season. The only question remaining: how high can they go?