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Northwestern’s 39-0 thrashing of Minnesota was enough to move the Wildcats up a spot in the fourth College Football Playoff Rankings of the season.
Fourth #CFBPlayoff Rankings:
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 22, 2017
2️⃣1️⃣ Stanford
2️⃣2️⃣ Northwestern
2️⃣3️⃣ Boise State
2️⃣4️⃣ South Carolina
2️⃣5️⃣ Virginia Tech
Northwestern is now ranked at No. 22 in the nation.
It was last week’s No. 19-ranked North Carolina State’s loss to Wake Forest that propelled Northwestern up a spot. Big Ten counterparts ranked by the committee are No. 16 Michigan State, No. 10 Penn State, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 5 Wisconsin. After losing to Wisconsin, Michigan was notably left off the ballot.
This is Northwestern’s third consecutive week in the College Football Playoff rankings, but Pat Fitzgerald’s team just cracked into the AP Poll at No. 23 for the first time since 2015.
A win on Saturday, coupled with a few timely losses - Stanford to Notre Dame as well as Washington to Washington State - could very well vault Northwestern into the top 20.