Oklahoma up to third as Notre Dame fall in college football rankings

There are only two other entries from the SEC in this week’s rankings with in-state foes Ole Miss at No. 18 andMississippi State at No.21. You can be sure Coach Dabo Swinney has been working on his celebration dance for the conference title game. It’s another test, one that would make or break Alabama in its quest to reach the playoff field. They did play Clemson close, but that game was in early October. Fortunately for the Irish, they’ll get a shot at that signature victory this week at Stanford. That said, the Sooners could end the suspense and earn the conference championship with a win in Stillwater this week, thanks to their win over the Bears last week. With interim coach Shawn Elliott coaching what is likely his last game at the helm of USC, we expect the Gamecocks will have as much motivation as they have all year.

What if Penn State beats Michigan State, Michigan beats Ohio State and Michigan beats one-loss Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game – leaving everyone with two losses?

Notre Dame (10-1) also plays its last game of the season Saturday, a possible resume-builder against Stanford, which is ninth in the rankings. In 1984, BYU finished its season 12-0 and No. 1 after a 24-17 Holiday Bowl victory over a MI team that finished 6-6.

This final edition of Doomsday will leave the 12 members of the selection committee completely in the dark about who should be the top four teams in the country. The biggest detractor for Michigan State will be the loss at Nebraska.

My opinion is, unless Clemson (@South Carolina, vs. North Carolina), Alabama (@Auburn, vs. Florida) or Notre Dame (@Stanford) loses, this is coming down to a game of attrition between the Big 12 and Big Ten.

A win against OU will surely impress the committee, with how impressive OU has looked down the final stretch. If they beat Notre Dame and win the Pac-12 against UCLA/USC, are they going to be in the playoffs despite their two losses?

#3 Oklahoma: A second loss would keep the Sooners out, especially with no conference championship.

(8) 9% selected 2014 Ohio State (Owls) based on regular season resume. Oklahoma is in better position. Oklahoma State needs a win to stay alive in the conference and hope that Baylor loses to TCU or Texas in the final two games. Another one-loss team – Oklahoma – moved in behind ‘Bama at the No. 3 spot this week. When all is said and done with the regular season and conference championship week, Oklahoma should be among only one other one-loss team of note, Notre Dame.

Florida, which has already won the SEC East, dropped four spots from to No. 12 after needing overtime to topple Florida Atlantic. Here are the ten best rivalry games that will be played this weekend.

Florida State running back Dalvin Cook picks up… A win over Penn State would send Mark Dantonio’s team to the Big Ten title game, where it would face Iowa. Baylor faced a good Kansas State team at home, posted a solid win, but still was being dragged down by its nonconference schedule and a loss at West Virginia, which finished in the middle of the Big 12.

The Cardinal have lost twice this season, both to quality teams, and it’s something they will be kicking themselves for. Maybe that the committee wants teams to go through a championship game in order to make the playoffs.

As soon as the seconds ticked off the clock this past Saturday, what seemed like dreams of an undefeated season and a trip to the only postseason that matters were dashed, or so we thought.