College Football Playoff Rankings 2020: Twitter Reacts to Week 15 Top 25 Reveal

The latest iteration of the College Football Playoff rankings are here, arriving among continued uncertainty in the FBS as COVID-19 continues to turn the calendar on its head. 

The fresh rankings come just as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across multiple programs, hitting the Big Ten particularly hard. 

On Tuesday morning, Michigan suddenly canceled coach Jim Harbaugh's media availability; not long after, the program canceled its game of the year against Ohio State due to an increasing number of cases. 

Even though the 5-0 Buckeyes retain their No. 4 spot in the rankings and lead the East Division, they would need to play another Big Ten team this week to qualify for the championship game. The Big Ten had said teams had to play a minimum of six games to qualify for the postseason. 

Then, Tuesday evening, just as the rankings were set to release, The Athletic's Bruce Feldman revealed that fellow Big Ten program Indiana paused all team-related activities due to a rising number of cases. As of this writing, no decision had been made regarding Saturday's scheduled game against Purdue. 

The top six teams in this week's rankings remained unchanged, but there was certainly some movement outside the top 10. 

Let's take a closer look at the updated Week 15 rankings and the movers and shakers who fill out the top 25. 

Full Rankings

1. Alabama

2. Notre Dame

3. Clemson

4. Ohio State

5. Texas A&M

6. Florida

7. Iowa State

8. Cincinnati

9. Georgia

10. Miami

11. Oklahoma

12. Indiana

13. Coastal Carolina

14. Northwestern

15. USC

16. Iowa

17. North Carolina

18. BYU

19. Louisiana

20. Texas

21. Colorado

22. Oklahoma State

23. NC State

24. Tulsa

25. Missouri

In the immediate aftermath of the rankings' release, college football Twitter was aflutter over two-loss Iowa State's No. 7 ranking, moving up from No. 9 last week and leapfrogging Cincinnati. 

Cincinnati has not played a game since Nov. 28 due to the ongoing COVID-19 spread within the program. 

Iowa State is the best team in a mediocre Big 12 conference that includes a 7-2 Oklahoma team, a 6-3 Texas team and a 6-3 Oklahoma State squad. 

In a more positive way, Coastal Carolina caught the nation's attention this past week with a 22-17 upset over BYU, undefeated to that point, to shoot up the rankings. Ranked No. 18 last week, it shot into the top 15, landing at 13 overall with its sparkling 10-0 record. BYU fell to 18. 

The Chanticleers have never had a winning FBS season but don't tell that to this year's squad. In fact, The Athletic's Chris Vannini thinks they should be in the top 10. (Insert eyeballs emoji here.)

The Pac-12 continued to struggle in the top 25; only two teams, No. 15 USC and No. 21 Colorado, made it in. 

As for newcomers this week, three-loss Missouri crept into the top 25 for the first time. 

Remember; don't get too worked up over the interim CFP rankings. As CBS Sports' Adam Silverstein points out, that's exactly what they want from you.  

The next round of rankings will be released next Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET. The final rankings will be released on Dec. 20.