A blowout loss by Tennessee to an unranked South Carolina team over the weekend opened the door for a new team to move up to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings and sit right on the doorstep of the four-team field.

The CFP selection committee opted to move two-loss LSU up to No. 5 and slot one-loss USC behind the Tigers at No. 6. Last week’s CFP ranking had the Tigers and Trojans ordered the same way, but after a 48-45 road win over UCLA helped USC jump LSU in the AP Top 25, there were plenty questioning whether the CFP committee would follow suit.

After all, USC faced a ranked Power Five team on the road while LSU played UAB at home.

However, LSU’s body of work to this point is more impressive to the selection committee than USC’s. That was the message from the committee chair, Boo Corrigan, during an appearance on ESPN Tuesday night.

“That was the dominant conversation for the last couple of days,” Corrigan said when asked about the LSU-USC ordering. “There’s reasons for USC to be at (No.) 5, there’s reasons for LSU to be at (No.) 5. As we looked at it, the wins over Alabama and Mississippi carried the day more so than the wins over UCLA and Oregon State. The good win they had on Saturday was 48-45. I think some of the members of the committee, as we looked at it, wanted to see a little bit more from their defense. (That) as well as the strength of schedule for LSU really drove the day.”

Alabama continues to have a ton of respect from the committee, and the Tigers’ one-point overtime win over the Tide at home is carrying water in a major way. The Tide, even with two losses, sit ahead of one-loss Clemson.

USC has reason to be annoyed with the ranking, but it also knows it’s in a position to win its way into the field. A one-loss P5 champion has yet to be excluded from the CFP field. If USC were to beat No. 15 Notre Dame at home on Saturday (4:30 p.m. PT, ABC), then win the Pac-12 Championship, it would have ripped off three straight wins over ranked teams.

The Trojans will meet either No. 9 Oregon, No. 13 Washington, or No. 14 Utah in the Pac-12 title.