Ohio State No. 6 in second-to-last playoff ranking

Don’t expect the Sooners (11-1) to suffer the same fate when the CFP selection committee unveils its final four at 11 a.m. Sunday in Grapevine.

If Clemson wins and Alabama defeats underdog Florida in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday, the four teams certainly will be the Tigers and Crimson Tide, along with Oklahoma from the Big 12 and the victor of the Michigan State-Iowa game in the Big Ten championship.

Title games for the ACC (Charlotte), Big Ten (Indianapolis), Pac 12 (Santa Clara, Calif.) and SEC (Atlanta) will be played Saturday. Stanford has two losses and is four spots behind the Sooners.

Ohio State is No. 6, followed by Stanford, which moved up two spots after Saturday’s win over Notre Dame.

But if there is an Ohio State clone out there, it may be North Carolina. Third and fourth would go to the victor of the Big Ten Conference championship, No. 4 Iowa or No. 5 Michigan State, and No. 3 Oklahoma, which has concluded its regular season and a place in the Playoff.

Even after a 52-31 loss at Houston, Navy (9-2) remained ranked, sliding from No. 15 to No. 23, as Houston (11-1) took over No. 19, ahead of its conference championship game set for Saturday in Houston against No. 22 Temple (10-2).

Michigan State and Ohio State were the first two out.

The final playoff ranking will be announced at noon Sunday on ESPN.

Stanford’s case: The Cardinal would be a conference champ, and the committee could heavily weigh that in a comparison to Ohio State, which didn’t win its division.

There’s very little drama in the College Football Playoff Rankings if chalk holds: Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and the Big Ten champion would make the field in some order.

If Oklahoma is No. 3 or 4, Long was adamant in saying the committee won’t try to manipulate the seedings so the Sooners avoid the Cotton Bowl.

Ohio State defeated six bowl teams, with no victory better than the finale against the Wolverines. However, they have the luxury of playing the current No. 4 team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, this weekend. With that said, Oklahoma is now the only team in the nation who has their ticket to the playoff punched. We’ve seen evidence that the committee cares more about wins than an individual loss. Which means there’s a good chance OU stays at No. 3 and gets paired with Alabama. “The committee debated long and hard about the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams”. The only thing left is conference championships games, bowl games, and of course the College Football Playoff. If Michigan State loses to Iowa, I could not put the Buckeyes in over Michigan State after Sparty beat them in Columbus. The 9-2 Bears are an impressive win on Oklahoma’s resume, but a loss would take it down a notch. It doesn’t really matter – the victor of the Big Ten title game will get into the playoff – but in the end, Michigan State lost at Nebraska.