Notre Dame 8th in latest playoff rankings

“We had great debate about Clemson and Alabama, and we had a number of revotes”, said Long, the Arkansas athletic director and playoff committee chairman.

Clemson has wins against two teams in the committee’s top 10, Notre Dame at 8 and Florida State at 9.

Meanwhile, the remaining games that compose the New Year’s Six access bowl games – Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach – will select the highest ranked remaining teams that fill their criteria.

The final regular-season College Football Playoff ranking confirmed one thing: Most of the drama about this season’s playoff field has already been drained.

The Nebraska loss seemed to dispel any chances for Mark Dantonio’s team, but this squad turned it around to contain Ohio State’s offensive arsenal on the road. 1 and 2 and Iowa-Michigan State at Nos. Again, if the Tigers beat but struggle against the Tar Heels, the Tide will look much stronger to the committee. Clemson and Alabama wins in their championship games would more than likely mean this week’s top three would be in, with the Nos.

The victor of the Iowa-Michigan State Big Ten championship will undoubtedly go to the playoff.

Iowa is an underdog to Michigan State, while Ohio State and Stanford are hot on their tails.

A nice win over Florida ensures the Seminoles a top-10 finish, but that’s as far as they can climb. Some analysts argued that either Alabama or Oklahoma, which each won convincingly Saturday, could ascend to the No. 1 spot this week. Michigan State is the only team that beat the Buckeyes this year and if they knock off Iowa in convincing fashion, then Ohio State’s last-second loss to the Spartans won’t look almost as bad. That does not bode well for the SEC landing a spot in the Playoff should the Gators upset Alabama on Saturday night in Atlanta. Notre Dame, sixth last week, fell to eighth after losing to Stanford. If votes feel that Ohio State’s resume as a fellow one-loss team is more impressive than what Clemson accomplished this season, they might opt for the defending champs. Stanford’s argument to be included over Ohio State would be their conference title, and their argument over a potential ACC Champion North Carolina would be their superior strength of schedule (18 vs. 62). Although, if Stanford impresses in its Pac-12 Championship game against USC (ranked No. 20), it could potentially leapfrog Oklahoma. The Cougars rolled past Navy (No. 23) and will face No. 22 Temple in the AAC championship game.