Despite a pair of early losses, the Cowboys have played so well as of late that they were included in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season that released Tuesday night.
Oklahoma State came in at No. 22 — sandwiched between two Big 12 teams the Cowboys have beaten in No. 21 Kansas and No. 23 Kansas State. Some crazy, crazy stuff would have to take place for OSU to get into the CFP, but this is a nice recognition of just how far the Cowboys have come over the past month.
| CFP | AP | Coaches | |
| 1 | Ohio State | Georgia (48) | Georgia (58) |
| 2 | Georgia | Michigan (9) | Michigan (3) |
| 3 | Michigan | Ohio State (3) | Ohio State (3) |
| 4 | Florida State | Florida State (3) | Florida State |
| 5 | Washington | Washington | Washington |
| 6 | Oregon | Oregon | Texas |
| 7 | Texas | Texas | Oregon |
| 8 | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama |
| 9 | Oklahoma | Penn State | Penn State |
| 10 | Ole Miss | Oklahoma | Ole Miss |
| 11 | Penn State | Ole Miss | Oklahoma |
| 12 | Missouri | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| 13 | Louisville | LSU | LSU |
| 14 | LSU | Missouri | Missouri |
| 15 | Notre Dame | Louisville | Louisville |
| 16 | Oregon State | Oregon State | Tennessee |
| 17 | Tennessee | Air Force | Air Force |
| 18 | Utah | Utah | Utah |
| 19 | UCLA | Tennessee | Oregon State |
| 20 | USC | UCLA | UCLA |
| 21 | Kansas | Tulane | Tulane |
| 22 | Oklahoma State | Kansas | USC |
| 23 | Kansas State | James Madison | Kansas |
| 24 | Tulane | USC | James Madison |
| 25 | Air Force | Kansas State | North Carolina |
The intrigue at this particular ranking comes at the top, where the committee put Ohio State ahead of Georgia with Michigan and Florida State finishing out the top four.