8 teams remain in position for College Football Playoff

Clemson is still No. 1 and Alabama remained No. 2, both needing a victory in their conference championship games Saturday to lock up a playoff spot.

Tonight, the second-most important college football poll of the season will be revealed by Jeff Long and the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

(10-1) Alabama (#3 in the A&H Rankings): Win out (at Auburn (#46 in the A&H Rankings) and versus Florida in the SEC Championship Game). The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten West Division, and they face East Division co-champion and fifth-ranked Michigan State (11-1) in the conference championship game Saturday night in Indianapolis.

Any team that isn’t now in the top-four will only get in by either knocking a top-four team out – North Carolina or Michigan State – or through Florida upsetting Alabama in the SEC championship game, which would only make OU’s seed higher.

The playoff committee kept the top four teams in its rankings, with Clemson at No. 1, Alabama at No. 2, Oklahoma at No. 3 and Iowa at No. 4.

Maybe, especially if Alabama losses, too, and Stanford loses. The committee would have to slice and dice the resumes of the Tar Heels, trying to make a huge jump after winning a conference, the Cardinal, a two-loss conference champion with a top-10 win against Notre Dame, and the defending national champion Buckeyes.

Next season, Oklahoma’s games against TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State are more spread out in the schedule, plus the games with Baylor and Oklahoma State are in Norman in 2016. Notre Dame should be in good position to make a New Year’s Six bowl. The committee would be hard pressed to omit a 1-loss champion from a Power-5 conference, Naysayers will cite North Carolina’s 62nd ranked strength of schedule as an area for concern, but a win over consensus #1 Clemson would certainly silence some of them.

Ohio State (11-1), which wrapped up its season with a win over MI, moved up to sixth this week. For North Carolina to prevail, however, the committee would have to overlook (A) that the Tar Heels’ best win before beating Clemson (in this scenario) will have been at Pitt (#31 in the A&H Rankings), and (B) that the Tar Heels lost to a (3-8) SC team (#85 in the A&H Rankings) that lost on Saturday to the Citadel. Otherwise, lose at Nebraska, win the following week to claim the Big Ten title, and then hope for the best from the subjective 13-member selection committee that will unilaterally determine the playoff field. Every single one has been to a team ranked in the top 10. Ohio State rolled over MI, but it could be a while before that happens again. And, there is still a chance the Big Ten could get two teams in the playoffs. Swinney received 27 of 50 votes; North Carolina’s Larry Fedora got 21.

Stanford also may be able to slip into the playoff if it beats USC in the Pac-12 title game to finish 10-2.

While Clemson and Alabama look to seal spots in the Playoff, Stanford will have a rematch with No. 20 Southern California to settle the Pac-12 Conference championship.

The stage is set for the Big Ten Championship Game against No. 5 Michigan State.

Iowa was buoyed by Northwestern scooting up to No. 14, but no Wisconsin in the Top 25 (despite what the AP and Coaches polls decided this week) hurts. This is a team that’s getting better by the week.