The Houston Cougars are currently sitting at 7-2 after an important homecoming win over Cincinnati on Saturday, and are still in contention for the Big 12 Championship.

As a result, Houston jumped up three spots in the AP Poll to No. 14 in the country.

Tuesday marked the release of the second College Football Playoff rankings of the season so far as well. Houston was also ranked at No. 14 overall in those rankings and moved up three spots as well from No. 17 last week.

Details on Houston's Top 15 CFP Ranking

This is the second straight week that the AP Poll and CFP rankings have matched up in placement for Houston.

The Cougars being ranked at No. 17 last week initially marked the highest CFP ranking ever for Houston. That has now been improved by three spots. No. 14 is now the highest CFP ranking in Houston history.

Houston was just three spots out from the 12-team playoff cut, with No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 13 Wake Forest ahead of the Cougars. Iowa was listed below Houston at No. 15.

There were now six Big 12 teams that made it into the CFP Top 25 rankings this week, with Oklahoma State at No. 25. That's good for Houston as the Cowboys are currently the best win on the schedule. OSU playing Texas Tech is one of the biggest games in the conference left that has significant influence on who could potentially make it to the Big 12 title game.

If Oklahoma State wins, Houston could suddenly find itself in a position to make the conference championship game given its strength of schedule and record against common opponents if it wins out and gets to 10-2.

Arizona was listed at No. 22. Three Big 12 teams were ahead of Houston, besides Texas Tech, BYU at No. 10 and Utah at No. 2. The Utes being all the way up there just shows how close Houston was to achieving something special had it won in Salt Lake City in Week 8.

It's not completely out of the question that Houston could somehow sneak into the 12-team playoff, but it would need a lot of outside help. Coach Willie Fritz's squad has been one of the more consistent teams in the country this year and senior quarterback Conner Weigman is now on multiple national watchlists, including the Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Award.

Houston has two road games coming up and will face Colorado on Friday night.