Oklahoma Gets Chance At CFP

It’s important to note that based on the committee’s rankings, it considers two-loss Stanford (No. 9) better than one-loss Oklahoma State (No. 11). Should Navy prevail, it would still need to get past Army in addition to its conference title game. The Crimson Tide will roll through War Eagle country. This week the Playoff looks like this: No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Iowa.

In my estimation, the best the Fighting Irish can hope for is to win convincingly at Stanford this weekend and hope that Oklahoma State wins and by a small margin. The Sooners best out-of-conference win came at Tennessee.

At this point a year ago, Ohio State was sitting at No. 6 in the committee’s ranking.

No. 4 Iowa at Nebraska: Nebraska, the spoilers of the Big Ten, gets to host the fight for the Heroes Trophy. The final one will occur on December 6 and determine which teams play in the national semifinals. For many teams, it’ll be their last game of the year.

That seems to be the only reason that the Hawkeyes have been ranked higher than Notre Dame which is frustrating because one of the reasons for having a selection committee is that this should not automatically make you a contender.

The Irish might be able to get some help from their rivals.

The Oklahoma Sooners have their biggest game of the season on Saturday as they will take on No. 11 Oklahoma State.

Heck, N.C. State moved their home game against Carolina to Chapel Hill in 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1963 because the Tar Heels had a bigger stadium. It’s pretty simple: Defeat TCU and Texas. If the Spartans lose, the victor of Ohio State-Michigan will play No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten Championship. Oklahoma State, ranked sixth last week, fell to eleventh.

Ohio State hit a peak in quarterback J.T. Barrett’s first start – a 49-7 win over Rutgers on October 24 – but the Buckeyes have not been consistent since then. With losses to USC and now UCLA, the Utes were eliminated from championship contention.

As mentioned, Michigan State is the only team in the East that has a guaranteed spot in the Big Ten finale. But coach Brian Kelly had said earlier Tuesday he believes they will be in if they close the regular season with a win at Stanford (9-2), which is No. 9 in the CFP rankings. But it needs a lot more help.

Coming up with “qualified” 5-7 teams for bowls could work in a conference like the Big Ten, which now has two fewer eligible teams than bowl berths, and could fill the need if it gets the OK from the oversight committee. Baylor (9-1) 8. Ohio State (10-1) 9. The Big Ten has four teams in the Top 10. Oklahoma (10-1) climbed four spots on the strength of last week’s 30-29 victory over TCU in Norman, Okla. and became the first Big 12 team to fall within the four-team window of the projected playoff bracket. They’re going to play for the conference championship anyway against North Carolina.

There are four other matchups of teams in the CFP rankings today and Saturday and NFL Sunday brings us a prime-time showdown between the unbeaten New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. Sports Illustrated’s Thayer Evans mentioned him as one of many possible candidates for Iowa State’s vacancy.

Les Miles’ LSU coaching career twists in the wind, in the same month in which his Tigers were ranked No. 2 in the nation. Losing to FSU and then beating ‘Bama would certainly do the trick. And if Stanford wins out, the committee might take even a two-loss Cardinal team over the Cowboys.

What if Clemson loses to North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game? With Oklahoma (#3), Baylor (#7) and Oklahoma State (#11) all looking at potentially making a run at a playoff spot, Notre Dame would like the teams to knock each other off and create a messy situation at the top of the conference.