NCAA Football: Rutgers at Ohio State
USATSI

Ohio State rose two places to No. 3 in the Coaches Poll this week despite not playing in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Buckeyes jumped TCU and USC, which both dropped following losses in their conference championship games. 

By contrast, Ohio State is at No. 4 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings and in the AP Top 25.

Georgia retained the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll, released Sunday, after its dominant win over LSU in the SEC Championship Game, and Michigan held steady at No. 2 after beating Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game. TCU and Alabama rounded out this week's top five at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Another quirk of this week's Coaches Poll is USC landing at No. 8, two spots ahead of Utah.

After losing to the Utes in Friday night's Pac-12 Championship Game, USC has now lost twice against Utah in head-to-head settings. The Utes came in one spot ahead of the Trojans in the AP poll. The coaches also left Clemson out of the top 10 after the Tigers improved to 11-2 with a dominant win over North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game.

At the bottom of the poll, Troy made it in at No. 24 after improving to 11-2 with a win over Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship Game. UCF was the only team to drop out this week after the Knights lost to Tulane in the AAC Championship Game.

Coaches Poll

  1. Georgia (59)
  2. Michigan (2)
  3. Ohio State
  4. TCU
  5. Alabama
  6. Tennessee
  7. Penn State
  8. USC
  9. Kansas State
  10. Utah
  11. Clemson
  12. Washington
  13. Florida State
  14. Oregon
  15. LSU
  16. Oregon State
  17. Tulane
  18. UCLA
  19. South Carolina
  20. Notre Dame
  21. Texas
  22. UTSA
  23. Mississippi State
  24. Troy
  25. North Carolina 

Others receiving votes: NC State 60; Ole Miss 44; UCF 43; Fresno State 37; Pittsburgh 28; Air Force 17; South Alabama 14; Purdue 12; Cincinnati 10; Minnesota 7; Duke 6; Coastal Carolina 5; Illinois 4; Boise State 3.

Schools dropped out: No. 23 UCF