College Football Playoff Rankings: ASU moves up in second week

Arizona State found themselves at No. 9 in the second week of the College Football Playoff rankings, a move up from No. 14 in the initial rankings last week. Next weekend's opponent Notre Dame remains at No. 10 in the rankings.

Keep in mind that each team doesn't necessarily move up or down on a weekly basis like the AP or Coaches Poll. Instead the committee re-ranks each team in the College Football Playoff rankings looking at their entire body of work and schedule to date, taking into account injuries to each team, strength of schedule, head-to-head rankings and common opponents.

Arizona State's matchup with Notre Dame will be key in determining the Sun Devils future. A one-loss Pac-12 team currently has the inside track to sneak into the No.4 spot in the rankings. The maroon and gold would need to win out in the regular season and then beat Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game in order to secure a playoff spot.

Oregon moved up from No. 5 to No. 4  with a victory over Stanford which was aided by a Auburn victory over Ole Miss. Arizona dropped from No. 12 to No. 19 after a loss to UCLA while the Bruins moved up from No. 22 to No. 18 with the victory. Utah remained stagnant at No. 17 with the loss to the Sun Devils.

Utah remaining at No. 17 with a loss, Arizona State moving up five spots and UCLA gaining four positions shows a lot of respect for the Pac-12 by the selection committee.