Ohio State Buckeyes number 2 in College Football Playoff rankings

This loss also re-opens the door for teams like Ohio State, Louisville, and Wisconsin.

Of course, this would all be solved by an eight-team playoff: Give five spots to the champs of the Power-5 conferences and then name three at-large teams. Clemson returned to the top tier, and is now in No. 4.

Three of last week’s top four teams and half the top 10 lost Saturday, but Tuesday’s poll didn’t exactly reflect those upsets.

Clemson suffered a loss at home to unranked Pittsburgh last Saturday, but the Tigers are still the fourth-ranked team, one spot ahead of the Louisville Cardinals. Wisconsin could win the Big Ten despite losing to Ohio State and MI, teams the committee has held in higher esteem.

That included MI, which lost to Iowa on a last-second field goal, but Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines still retained the No. 3 position in the rankings.

The Cowboys’ six-game winning streak leaves them with a Big 12 championship and possible playoff spot in play with just two weeks left in the regular season with games against TCU and No. 9 Oklahoma.

Path to the playoff: Alabama has clinched the SEC West title and a spot in the conference championship game. Ohio State and MI meet on November 26, knocking one of those teams out of contention. Sparty handed the Buckeyes their only loss last season.

We are now looking at a very realistic scenario where the champion from the nation’s best conference does not get into the College Football Playoff. Penn State (8-2), No. 9. Yeah, they’ve had a lot of close games to decent opponents.

While the Buckeyes and Wolverines will get a big win on the penultimate weekend, the Big Ten situation is far from settled.

No. 2 Ohio State stands a great chance, if it wins its last two games, of being the first non-conference champion selected.

The Cardinals’ hurdle could be even more hard to clear than the Buckeyes’. So that’s Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, Louisville and Washington. MI remains third. Ohio State jumped from fifth to second. Louisville, however, is only percentage points out of the playoff.

“Even if those teams won, we know that if we take care of what we have to take care of, we can be in a good situation”, UW running back Dare Ogunbowale said. But would the committee take the Cardinals over the Pac-12 champ (Washington) or the Big 12 champ (Oklahoma)?

This week, Ohio State plays at Michigan State and Michigan hosts Indiana.

In the rankings released Tuesday night, Boise State (9-1) was No. 20 and Western Michigan (10-0) was No. 21.