Michigan No. 2 in latest College Football Playoff rankings

The College Football Playoff field is nearly set.

The committee's penultimate rankings went live Tuesday night, with Michigan landing the No. 2 seed heading into the Big Ten Championship game against Purdue on Saturday night. Georgia remains the No. 1 team, with TCU at No. 3 and USC (11-1) at No. 4.

Ohio State, which was No. 2 a week ago, came in at No. 5 after getting blown out by Michigan (12-0) at home this past weekend. The Buckeyes (11-1) appear to be the committee's first choice for a replacement, should either USC or TCU falter in their respective conference title games, with No. 6 Alabama trailing not too far behind. A team ranked lower than sixth during the penultimate rankings has never made the playoff.

Penn State jumped to No. 8 in the rankings, improving the quality of win for Michigan (41-7 on Oct. 15) and Ohio State (44-31 on Oct. 29).

This year's CFP semi-final games will be held on Dec. 31 at the Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.) and Peach Bowl (Atlanta, Ga.). The CFP final is Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. As it stands, No. 2 Michigan would play No. 3 TCU (12-0) in one CFP semi-final, with No. 1 Georgia (12-0) playing No. 4 USC (11-1) in the other.

USC will look to avenge its only loss of the season in its showdown with No. 11 Utah (9-3) in the Pac-12 title game on Friday night. TCU hopes to stay perfect against No. 10 Kansas State (9-3) on Saturday. Some have argued that both Michigan and Georgia, which faces No. 14 LSU in the SEC championship game on Saturday afternoon, will reach the College Football Playoff regardless of what happens in their respective conference championships.