24 to No. 16 in the latest CFP rankings

Before this week, college football’s regular season looked like it was going to end without much fanfare or controversy. In this odd season I explained a month ago that the unbeaten teams had bought themselves plenty of currency because so numerous teams chasing them had a pair of losses already. I’m talking about the College Football Playoff, which – unlike the presidential election – has many attractive candidates.

MI coach Jim Harbaugh saw his team lose, 14-13, on a last-second field goal at unranked Iowa on Saturday, but the Wolverines remained at No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. A win over the one-loss Mountaineers would go a long way, and Bob Stoops’ team clearly can’t afford another loss with hiccups against Houston and Ohio State in the rearview mirror.

There are now nine one-loss teams, with six from Power 5 conferences (Louisville, Clemson, West Virginia, Michigan, Ohio State, Washington) and three from other leagues (Boise State, San Diego State and Troy). Louisville’s was to a playoff contender (Clemson) on the road.

Many were doubting Ohio State after that brutal loss to Penn State. That would put the Penn State in the conference championship game. However, those teams had similar resumes. A loss to IN at home this weekend or to the Buckeyes next Saturday would open the door for Penn State to make the title game, should the Nittany Lions win out.

Louisville moved up to third courtesy of losses by the Washington Huskies and Michigan Wolverines.

This is at the bottom of the list because there’s really no chance for either of these teams to play in January. Hopefully, the committee can look past that. That’s not how they play it in a couple of other top conferences.

Behind Alabama at No. 2 was Ohio State, which made the climb from No. 5 by virtue of a 62-3 win over Maryland.

While fans would love the extra game week of college football, players and coaches would likely not.

The season is not over, but let’s just project out without any major upsets. I haven’t heard game control anymore.

It turns out, I had good reason to be pessimistic. MI has IN this weekend before The Game IN Columbus.

BC’s road upset win over NC State is proven to be more and more of a fluke with each passing week.

MI was primed to be upset in Iowa City.

Alabama, Michigan and Clemson have been in the top four all three weeks of the rankings. While SEC teams are picking up an extra win against inferior opponents, six Pac-12 teams will absorb a loss in head-to-head conference matchups. In a special for the Tuscaloosa News, Terrin Waack passed along the coach’s thoughts Monday about doing anything that would leave the team’s hopes in the hands of the committee.

Of course, all of this could change as early as dawn Sunday when the smoke rises over whatever calamity strikes college football’s best teams this weekend. Troy ranked 102nd among public schools by bringing in $27 million to its athletic department this year.

Also, it’s a bit absurd that the undefeated Western Michigan Broncos can’t even crack the top-20 and aren’t ranked ahead of the Boise State Broncos. It had never happened, and we’re up to 49 things that have never happened here at Western Michigan. ESPN analyst Joey Galloway, said of WMU: “They deserve more respect”.