CFP Rankings: Texas A&M 4th behind ‘Bama, Clemson, Michigan

Riding a four-game winning streak with wins over Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio State and Purdue, the Lions surged past their No. 20 AP rank and up to No. 12 in part due to the strength of their wins, according to College Football Playoff Selection Committee Chairman Kirby Hocutt. Utah is the only top 25 team the Huskies have beaten this season.

“I regret that I did not respond appropriately to parking attendants and understand and accept the consequences”, Mixon said.

Congratulations, College Football Playoff committee, you got me again.

“You’ve got to play your season out, and then at the end of that season, you earn the right to play another game, and what type of game you’re playing in depends on what you do”.

“I think it is kind of like Iowa past year”, Hancock said of the Tigers. But wait! Rutgers at Michigan State next week. Regardless, should the Tigers remain undefeated, everything else becomes irrelevant; their spot in the top four will be secure.

And you never know.

Meanwhile, the Spartans have gone from Big Ten champions and a playoff appearance to an 0-5 record in conference play.

The playoff picture could change every week until December 4 because of what happens on the field or in the 12-member selection committee’s meeting room. Those are all good wins.

The second, and most crucial, is that two years of evidence from the Playoff era has revealed an incontrovertible truth: conference championships matter. Neither are embarrassing, but the Sooners had two spotlight games in non-conference play against Houston and Ohio State, and it lost them both, including a 21-point home loss against the Buckeyes. An LSU upset would leave four SEC West teams with one league loss apiece – provided Texas A&M and Auburn take care of business Saturday against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, respectively. If both those teams win out and claim their conference titles, then they will be in the playoff. The question was whether MI or Clemson would be No. 2? And yet, they might seriously have a chance at making a run for the title this season. UW’s Jake Browning is holding steady at No. 2 in ESPN’s Heisman Watch, with Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, Michigan linebacker Jabrill Peppers and San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey rounding out the top five. Will Auburn get lumped into the conversation now with one-loss teams such as Louisville and Ohio State, or ahead of a fellow two-loss team like Wisconsin?

Based on this week’s rankings, Stokan pencils in these potential pairings for the other “New Year’s Six” bowls if the season were over now: No. 5 Washington vs. I don’t believe in undefeated teams being left out.

“Clemson won eight games”.

The other thing that hurts A&M is the fact that Alabama is in control of the SEC West.

FRESHMAN GIVING UP FOOTBALL: South Carolina coach Will Muschamp says freshman tight end Robert Tucker III is giving up football due to medical concerns. They ended up losing to Alabama in the national championship game, 45-40.

We won’t have to wait very long to find out what’s going to happen with LSU, either. Heck, a loss before the Ohio State wouldn’t take that away from the Wolverines.

All four teams have been disappointments to different degrees and their surprising failures have represented the ugliest aspect of the first half of the college football season. The Cougars were the top team in the “others receiving votes” category in Week 9, meaning they moved up just one spot after their win.