The unsettled college football post season

Consensus: Out. It’s too little too late for Stanford, which has had a tremendous season, just not one that will culminate in a playoff berth. But lots of hard decisions could be on the docket for the 12 committee members during overnight meetings in Grapevine before the playoff bracket is finalized. All but Oklahoma will be in action on Saturday, but not all three are required to lose to open the door for Notre Dame. One would have to believe that a team ranked third in the country at the end of the regular season would have been chosen for a four-team playoff had there been one.

Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State vs. Notre Dame. The Tar Heels have a long way to climb, even with a victory, and CFP committee members have been critical of North Carolina’s nonconference schedule (two FCS opponents) and season-opening loss to SC, a 3-9 team.

A victory by the Tar Heels will make the committee choose between North Carolina, with a conference title and a victory against No. 1, Ohio State, sitting at sixth and hoping for a reprieve, and maybe Stanford (10-2, No. 7 CFP). So highly thought of were the Buckeyes that the loss only knocked them to No. 4 in the polls.

The No. 5 Michigan State Spartans narrowly defeated No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes 16-13 in the Big Ten Championship game. The right losses could put OU at No. 1 by Sunday morning.

Cotton Bowl – No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Michigan State.

The first American Athletic Conference championship football game will be played today at noon, with No. 22 Temple taking on No. 19 Houston at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas.

It’s the total chaos the Fighting Irish desperately need. The Golden Eagles however had different plans and upset Notre Dame in South Bend 41-39.

Of course, nobody had it easier than the Sooners (11-1). One would think that a team that just won a “Game of the Century” would have been included in a 4-team playoff. It’s clearly in Ohio State’s favor … The Buckeyes have just one loss, yes, but their schedule was relatively weak and they fell to the one elite team they faced (Michigan State).

This year, however, Oklahoma probably has a CFP spot wrapped up after being widely praised by the committee. That certainly would have been good enough to have made the 4-team playoff had one existed.

Two more wins and the Tigers are national champions.

Here we are 17 years later, in 2015, with Ohio State losing even later in the year to Michigan State than in 1998, not even win their division in their conference and yet still in the College Football Playoff discussion. This seems most likely to happen for Stanford, which could win the Pac-12 title with an 11-2 record.

Rose Bowl – Iowa vs. Oregon. However, the BCS computers thought higher of Nebraska and had the Cornhuskers ranked fourth behind Miami, Florida and Texas with OR fifth. Without a conference title game, Oklahoma couldn’t do anything to bolster its case this week, while other teams are much fresher in the committee’s mind.

So, as the last week of the football season nears, the CFP college football rankings have been determined coming into the weekend, and all these great teams are set to battle for the top rank.

Non-champion makes the playoffs. A way to create a pro baseball & pro football wild card-like race to generate even more interest, controversy, and ultimately, more money?

Alabama has only one win against a 10-win team, but has racked up plenty of quality Ws, eight against teams with at least eight wins.

John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications and sports websites.