Iowa leaps into No. 3 spot

Another week and another round of College Football Playoff drama, with Oklahoma and Iowa jumping into the top four in this week’s rankings revealed Tuesday night. A win in that game could persuade the 12-person selection committee to move Notre Dame back into the top four. And with No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama seemingly facing manageable paths to the playoff from here, this looks like a situation with three teams for two spots. Several national analysts predicted the Spartans would move up to No. 3 or No. 4 in light of that victory, but MSU is still outside the top four for now.

Week Twelve of the college football season eliminated three more undefeated teams, as third ranked Ohio State was outplayed by Michigan State at home, Oklahoma State couldn’t keep up with or stop the Baylor Bears and high-powered Houston imploded against upstart UConn.

Michigan State closes the regular season against Penn State, and earns a spot in the Big Ten Championship with a win.

The league left out of last year’s playoff, and one without a championship game, still has three teams – Oklahoma (No. 5 AP), Baylor (No. 7 AP) and Oklahoma State (No. 9 AP) – alive in the championship chase. A strong finish, and perhaps a Big Ten Title, along with some chaos above, could crack the door open for Sparty.

A couple weeks later both are lurking and the two could combine to make a fascinating decision for the committee. An Oklahoma State win over Oklahoma would solve plenty of problems, as would TCU knocking Baylor out on Friday.

Notre Dame would be in the role of Ohio State this season, but it’s not quite the same.

Playoff Outlook: A lock, if – and it’s no given – the Tigers win each of their last two games, beginning this week at rival SC and then against the Tar Heels the following week.

Should be an exciting week in which most teams will be ending their regular season.

If No. 3 Oklahoma loses to No. 11 Oklahoma State…

Without a victory Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif., the Irish can altogether kiss goodbye their chances of making the four-team College Football Playoff. The Hawkeyes lost a top-25 win when Wisconsin dropped from the rankings; plus, they have only beaten No. 16 Northwestern.

ACC – North Carolina upsets Clemson in the title game: This one is unlikely, but certainly not out of the question. “I would say that Clemson was solidly in that No. 1 spot, and there was no real indication that Alabama was going to challenge them for that No. 1 spot in this week’s rankings”, Long said. Stanford (9-2), 10. MI (9-2), 11. If Oklahoma loses, it could be left out again as there is no conference title game for one team to stand above the rest.

Alabama’s only top-25 win right now is over No. 21 Mississippi State. The Hawkeyes will face either Michigan State, Michigan, or Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. Another Big 10 East team, will be eliminated(seemingly) by missing out on the Big 10 championship game.

“The combination of them not playing well the last couple weeks combined with high-level wins by Oklahoma and Michigan State resulted (in the switch)”, CFP committee chairman Jeff Long said in an ESPN interview.

What if Auburn beats Alabama, Ole Miss beats Mississippi State and Florida State beats Florida?