Oklahoma's win over TCU was enough to vault the Sooners into the College Football Playoff selection committee's No. 3 ranking Tuesday, while Iowa moved into a coveted top-four spot as well.
The Sooners and Hawkeyes replaced Ohio State, which lost to Michigan State, and Notre Dame, which narrowly defeated Boston College at Fenway Park in Boston, 19-16. Clemson and Alabama remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
"Oklahoma's body of work, they added to it this week with another top-25 (win)," CFP selection committee chairman Jeff Long told ESPN. "They've done that over the last two weeks. Adding that to their body of work really propelled them up to that third spot."
Michigan State's win over the defending national champion Buckeyes moved the Spartans ahead to No. 5, while the Fighting Irish fell to No. 6. Baylor was ranked No. 7, followed by Ohio State, Stanford and Michigan. While it was a given that Ohio State would fall out of the top four with its loss, Notre Dame's slip from No. 4 to No. 6 despite a victory on a neutral field was as much of a surprise as the latest rankings provided.
"The Boston College game didn't add a lot to their resume, but it was more about the performance of Oklahoma and Michigan State against top-ranked teams that propelled them ahead of Notre Dame," Long added.
A heavy schedule of rivalry games Saturday could further jumble the rankings next week, including Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Notre Dame at Stanford, and Baylor at TCU.
The CFP selection committee will release rankings twice more -- next Tuesday, and again on Sunday, Dec. 6 when it choosed the four-team playoff field. The Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl will host the semifinals at 4 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, respectively, on Dec. 31. The College Football Playoff championship game will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. on Jan. 11, 2016.
The committee will operate with 12 members instead of 13 this year due to the resignation of USC Athletic Director Pat Haden.
The entire order of the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings:
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
