Michigan remained sixth while Michigan State is seventh.
The Spartans travel to Columbus this week to face Ohio State, a team that lacks a signature win but has a quality loss to the Ducks in Week 2.
Ohio State topped then-No. 19 Purdue last week, but the Boilermakers are not ranked this week.
Notre Dame, a team Cincinnati beat decisively in South Bend, is No. 8 while Oklahoma State and Wake Forest round out the top 10.
Oklahoma, No. 8 last week, dropped to No. 13 after losing to Baylor.
CFP committee chair Gary Barta told reporters on a teleconference after the rankings were released that Cincinnati’s position is solid, at least for now.
“We start over every week,” Barta said. “Great discussion about Cincinnati and Michigan and where to place those two.
“The win at Notre Dame, obviously the committee values that and the fact that Cincinnati remains undefeated, so there’s not a degree of closeness, but this week, again, Cincinnati is ahead of Michigan. Next week we’ll take a look. Each of them has a game in front of them, and we’ll compare them again next week.”
The Bearcats play SMU this week while the Wolverines will be at Maryland.
Barta also said there was “a lot of conversation” regarding spots 2-4 this week, more than in previous weeks.
“We didn’t learn a lot new about Alabama, but they stayed at No. 2,” Barta said.
“Oregon continues to play really solid football. They had a strong win against Washington State (while) Ohio State rolled on Purdue. The offense just continues to be one of the best offenses in the country. So then you compare Ohio State has wins at Minnesota and then against Penn State and Purdue. Oregon has the win at Columbus, and that’s a big one. They also won at UCLA and beat Fresno State.
“The long answer to your question is those two are compared this past week, and the committee just felt that they were close enough that that head-to-head still ruled the day, so Oregon stayed at 3 and Ohio State is at 4.”
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