Michigan State Moves Up To 5 In College Football Playoff Rankings

Oklahoma and Iowa were the big winners this week in college football playoff rankings that included just 11 voters (Mike Tranghese was sick and could not travel).

“The Tigers are still the most likely Playoff team”, USA TODAY said.

No. 1 seed in the CFP, and playing in the Orange Bowl national semifinal. A win would help its strength of schedule, which has been depleted thanks to disappointing seasons from Texas, USC and Georgia Tech, but the Fighting Irish can not win a conference championship next week because if their independent status, which might, in the end, hurt them.

ACC – North Carolina upsets Clemson in the title game: This one is unlikely, but certainly not out of the question. But there’s no better way to end the regular season than rivalry week. It wasn’t until the conference championship that the Buckeyes were rewarded with a Playoff spot.

Path to the Playoff: Win the Big Ten championship. And Michigan State takes down Iowa in the Big Ten title game. There, the Wolverines would have to beat Iowa. Before Saturday, the Buckeyes had not lost a Big Ten regular-season game since 2011. Ohio State was in a similar position as the Irish, ranked No. 6 heading into the final week of the season, and jumped TCU and Baylor by throttling a top-15 Wisconsin side, 59-0.

Whether it was a well-played ruse or an honest answer, Notre Dame senior defensive tackle and team captain Sheldon Day said he didn’t know where his team was now ranked by the College Football Playoff selection committee. With an Oklahoma win, they win the conference, but if State wins, Baylor would win the title, assuming that they take care of business against TCU and Texas next week. Last season, the committee liked TCU more than Baylor all season, despite the Bears beating the Horned Frogs in October. Johnson feared that a win over 8-1-2 and No. 8 Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl would not be viewed as favorably by voters, so he began his campaign. This game will be decided on how well Oklahoma can run against the Cowboys’ defense. In the Big 12, both Oklahoma and Baylor need to lose, and even then it’s questionable with one-loss Oklahoma State.

The team that wants this game the most will come out the victor and reap the awards that are waiting, and you can be assured that Oklahoma State believes it will rain on the Sooners’ parade (no pun intended, given that the forecast is for rainy and cold conditions). Stanford knocks off Notre Dame (ruining the Irish’s playoff hopes) in Palo Alto to vault them back up into the playoff discussion despite two losses. As David Shaw pointed out Tuesday, Stanford should be concerned about its remaining schedule – the challenges there are hard – before fretting about the wins and losses of the teams in front of it. The bottom line is that the Cardinal are still reliant on some chaos, and its arrival is never a guarantee.

Don’t get your hopes up for the Playoff, Stanford fans. Alabama could fall at Auburn this weekend.

At No. 12 in this week’s rankings, Florida has a lot of ground to make up.

Despite the seeming invincibility of Alabama (No. 2 AP) as of late, the Crimson Tide must still defeat rival Auburn in this week’s Iron Bowl to secure a spot in the SEC championship game opposite of Florida (No. 10 AP).

The fourth set of rankings followed that same trend, and then some as two new teams joined the top four.

No. 5 Michigan State has to play Penn State this weekend.

Chaos in the SEC – There’s only one way: Three-loss Ole Miss is the conference champion. Suddenly the committee is forced to re-evaluate which two-loss team is most deserving of a playoff spot.

Behind OSU is Florida, Florida State and North Carolina.

What if Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State this weekend?

This scenario is nearly assuredly not happening. Both remaining unbeaten teams are in the Top 4 with Clemson at No. 1, and Iowa at No. 4. At minimum, four of those teams will take a loss, although in Clemson and Iowa’s case, a loss still keeps them as a one loss team.