Washington moves into No. 4 spot in CFP

In the final Playoff ranking, it’ll be No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Washington and No. 4 Ohio State.

Clemson: The Tigers, who lost to Alabama in last year’s national championship game, were No. 3 in the penultimate CFB rankings and moved ahead of Ohio State after beating No. 18 Virginia Tech in the ACC title game. The final rankings and playoff pairings will be released Sunday. Ohio State was a three-point favorite over Clemson.

“Being part of the Penn State nation is definitely something special”, Fields told 247Sports. Five years after the Jerry Sandusky scandal tainted the program and the late Joe Paterno’s legacy, and the ensuing NCAA sanctions seemed to put the Nittany Lions on the fast track to nowhere, they are Big Ten champs and look like a real national championship contender. There’s plenty of debate to be had and there will be someone good that gets snubbed after it’s all said and done. But, Penn State still has a chance in the Big Ten Championship to post another win over a top six team. The committee said MI was a really close fifth, but the Wolverines do not play while the Huskies can add a victory against Colorado and a Pac-12 title. At one point Hocutt added that the difference between the Wolverines and Huskies was “razor thin”. But if you’re the Pac-12, even in a year when your conference is down, and the committee takes a two-loss team over your one-loss champion, the league would have every right to blast the entire system.

Mountain West Championship: WYOMING (+6 1⁄2) over San Diego State – These teams met two weeks ago in Laramie, with the Cowboys winning a 34-33 thriller.

Colorado, which is ninth going into the Pac-12 title game, will make a claim to be No. 4 but it is doubtful the Buffaloes can climb over all those Big Ten teams.

Penn State fans, however, are already cranking up the complaints.

If the committee was impressed with the turnaround, it just might give the Nittany Lions (11-2) a chance.

The reality of the matter is that Penn State’s title hopes suffered a fatal blow on September 10, when rival Pittsburgh outlasted the Nittany Lions in a 42-39 win.

To the committee, MI passes the eye test more than Penn State. At least not yet.

Maybe these achievements are tossed aside in pursuit of the Playoff’s endgame: finding the four best teams in the country, all other caveats notwithstanding.

But the contract with the Sugar says the SEC gets the spot mediocre or not.

Stock up: Florida State. So will second-ranked Ohio State, which won’t play this weekend.

Commence debate – the pairings are in, and Penn State and MI are out.

He joked that he feels like he knows Saban well because he’s on TV so often, but said this will be the biggest challenge the Washington players and coaches have faced. Four teams, not two, and two games, not one.

AAC Championship: NAVY (-2 1⁄2) over Temple – The Owls have the nation’s third-ranked defense, but they’ll be hard-pressed to stymie a Navy attack that has averaged 60 points per game coming down the stretch.

Don’t consider WMU a lock.

“Conference championships are hard to win”, Hocutt said.

If the undefeated Broncos get to the Cotton Bowl, will P.J. Fleck still be their coach?.