Stanford moved up two spots to No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, which means it continues to be a dark horse to insinuate itself into the four-team playoff if the Cardinal wins out and teams above it fall over the season's final two weeks.
Stanford is the highest-ranked two-loss team and is ranked ahead of a number of one-loss teams, including No. 11 Oklahoma State, No. 12 Florida and No. 14 North Carolina.
Stanford's case is bolstered by its end-of-season schedule as well as its overall strength of schedule. The Cardinal first plays Notre Dame, which fell two spots to No.