College Football Playoff Rankings: Week 13

The biggest news for the Big 12 in tonight's latest iteration of the College Football Playoff rankings: TCU is no longer in control of their fate. The Horned Frogs slipped to fifth, and Baylor failed to make any forward movement themselves.

Alabama is the new number one, being vaulted into place due to their win over Mississippi State. The Bulldogs only fell to fourth, displacing TCU from the bracket. Florida State now sits behind not one but two one-loss teams, and nobody who doesn't bleed garnet and gold feels sorry for them at all. But the biggest threat to the Big 12 at this point may well be the team sandwiched between TCU and Baylor -- Ohio State.

It is not at all a stretch to envision Alabama or Mississippi State losing another game. Florida State could potentially trip, though it seems unlikely seeing as how fate seems intent on allowing them to continue digging their own grave and then, with a maniacal laugh, shoving their opponent in the hole. Oregon is ravaged by injuries on the offensive line, and could very well find themselves victimized by someone before the regular season ends.

But these are all what-ifs, and maybe only one of them happens. So where's that leave TCU and Baylor? Staring at the spectre of Ohio State, who will almost certainly win the remainder of their regular season games and would get an added boost if they were to win the Big Ten Championship Game.

As for K-State, they've moved up one spot to 12th. If they win out, at least four teams ahead of them are strong candidates to fall behind the Wildcats -- Baylor, for obvious reasons, UCLA is a reasonable candidate to lose another game, Mississippi might well lose to Mississippi State, and Georgia will be the underdog in the SEC Championship Game should they win the SEC East.

So K-State's chances of playing on New Year's Eve are fairly strong if they win out -- and might even manage it if they lose to Baylor, if they get enough help. Because in all that what-if and how-about, it's remotely possible that K-State might actually find themselves back in the playoff conversation themselves if enough people lose over the next two weeks. Think that's crazy talk?

Allow me to remind you that 1998 and 2007 actually happened.

With that, your Week 13 rankings: