The College Football Playoff committee is finally rewarding the Big 12

Notre Dame will root for the Hawkeyes to drop their season finale to Nebraska – the same team that took down Michigan State – and then Iowa to beat either Michigan State or Ohio State in the Big 10 championship game.

The final rankings will be revealed at 9 a.m. PST Dec. 6 on ESPN. Notre Dame, which handed Navy its only loss of the year, was ranked sixth. Here is the improbable, but possible path to the postseason. The closeness of that loss is something that’s discussed. You can be sure Coach Dabo Swinney has been working on his celebration dance for the conference title game. There are too many one-loss teams across the country to allow the Wolverines to crack the top four. “But I think in the end, they were so close that the fact that Iowa is undefeated and they have not had a misstep along the way at this point gave them the edge against Michigan State”.

“We had a number of re-votes where we dug into those areas and those teams”, Long said in response to a question about committee members significantly changing their minds on Iowa and Oklahoma. The USC win is a critical point in Notre Dame’s schedule and it will be very interesting to see how the Committee views that victory. In the last rankings, when Baylor’s and TCU’s schedule were nearly identical, the committee finally honored the head-to-head result and placed Baylor ahead of TCU. They were passed by Oklahoma, Iowa and Michigan State who sit at Nos. This might not bode well for the Big 12, again.

What if Penn State beats Michigan State, Ohio State beats Michigan and the Buckeyes beat unbeaten Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game? Yet, one now wonders if the coach had forgotten the difference between well prepared and tremendously prepared, it being so long since he last had a team with realistic championship goals. I dogged you last week, but this time around you did exactly what you’re supposed to do and got all over Florida for that game against FAU, and you correctly punished Notre Dame for looking bad at times in the win over Boston College. Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman said ND will need to beat Stanford and get some serious help to get back in the Playoff.

Notre Dame has not won at Stanford Stadium since 2007. It’s pretty simple: Defeat TCU and Texas. That’s seven spots higher than Florida State’s Everett Golson, Notre Dame’s starter last season. Thus, considering the potential ramifications the Big Ten may have on the Playoff, here are four potential outcomes for next weekend’s lineup and the likely Championship game.

What if Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State this weekend? Navy is 9-1 for the first time since 1963 and the Mids have not started 10-1 since 1905. They have clinched the Big Ten West and a spot in the conference title on December 5. They both need either an Oklahoma loss (which OSU directly controls, but Baylor does not), and a Notre Dame loss. Losses by Ohio State, Baylor and Oklahoma are musts. But with one loss and a shot at an SEC title, the Gators would seem to still be alive in the playoff race. That’s the biggest obstacle, but far from the only one. If Oklahoma wins, Baylor probably also needs to look good with their 3rd string QB in a win, and have Notre Dame lose and that nightmare scenario for the Big Ten, to become a non-conference victor claiming the final spot.

Of course if that happened, Mississippi State might drop from the rankings.

No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 9 Oklahoma State. 18 TCU at home last week and look to take a commanding lead in the Big XII with the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State on Saturday. Losing to FSU and then beating ‘Bama would certainly do the trick. The loss to Texas will be forgiven by going 3-0 against the other top teams in the Big 12 (2 on the road) plus winning at Tennessee. Based on the past three weeks-narrow wins over Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida Atlantic-it’s hard to expect much from Florida.

But what if North Carolina beats NC State and beats Clemson?