Stanford game is a playoff game

The debate is as much fun as the games right up to the point when our team loses.

The final ranking will be announced December 6, although current No. 15 Navy could delay the full release of bowl pairings because it plays Army on December 12. Not we “think” they are or they “might” be, they used the word “solidly”. The number is at 71 right now, and there are 14 teams in need of one more victory, including four Big Ten squads – Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska. If Michigan State is better, they will emerge from the title game in Indianapolis on December 5th with a trophy and a berth in the final four.

If committee members were looking for an alternative to Baylor on championship weekend a year ago, they found it in Ohio State. But there’s no better way to end the regular season than rivalry week. Clemson and Alabama occupied the first two spots.

The unbeaten Hawkeyes (11-0) have their best ranking since being No. 3 in 2002. A win over Penn State would send Mark Dantonio’s team to the Big Ten title game, where it would face Iowa. For this exercise, the Huskers pull off the upset and knock Iowa from the ranks of the unbeaten. Johnson feared that a win over 8-1-2 and No. 8 Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl would not be viewed as favorably by voters, so he began his campaign.

Alabama plays at Auburn, Florida State is at Florida, and the Big 12 Conference offers Baylor at TCU as well as Oklahoma at Oklahoma State.

Big 12 – Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma, TCU beats Baylor: The Bears stands to inherit the Big 12 title should Oklahoma State win, but with Jarrett Stidham now out for the regular season with a broken bone in his ankle, a win over TCU on the road is far from guaranteed.

Notre Dame, which was No. 4 last week, dropped to No. 6 after an unimpressive three-point win over Boston College. How about Oklahoma losing to a bad Texas team in October? But, really, which teams can get it done? And if Stanford wins out, the committee might take even a two-loss Cardinal team over the Cowboys. Oklahoma, Michigan State and Iowa all control their Playoff destiny should they win their conference championship games. But, they are getting a pass for having lost at Nebraska who is 5-6 whereas Notre Dame is getting treated like they lost to Boston College. With four teams in the top 10, it sure seems like the Big Ten has one of the top four spots earmarked for their conference champ, even one with two losses.

If Houston wins, then it would still have the AAC Championship Game against Temple or South Florida to worry about.

#8 Ohio State: MSU’s strength of schedule will be impacted both positively and negatively with The Game, regardless of the outcome.

Florida will be home underdogs to Florida State and get handed a second loss by the Seminoles while dealing with a lot of injuries.

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said as long as Alabama keeps winning its spot in the top four remains secure. The victory earned the Spartans a spot at fifth in the playoff rankings. There are still FOURTEEN undefeated or one-loss teams, with all but three of them being in power 5 conferences, and cases could be made that a handful of two loss teams are still alive, too. Their inability to score will hurt them this week, as I am taking Florida State to win in the swamp. “We’ll see where we are after those two games and we’ll see where everybody else is”.

I like Clemson to breeze past rivalry week and win the Palmetto Bowl.

It was certainly good while it lasted for Buckeyes’ fans but considering the way things came to an end last weekend, all bets are off when it comes to Ohio State’s season finale at MI this Saturday.