One-loss Notre Dame moves into College Football Playoff Top 4

SEC haters will cry foul, but if the SEC champion has no more than one loss there should be no doubt about its playoff worthiness, whether it’s Alabama, LSU or Florida.

The second College Football Playoff Top 25 was revealed Tuesday night, and the Ohio State Buckeyes were still ranked No. 3.

“This poll has to be very concerning for the Big 12”.

Notre Dame being ranked 4th wasn’t almost as surprising as Oklahoma State ranking just 8th. A one-loss Big 12 champ still faces a battle. “It’s a polarizing school, a polarizing team because of who they are”. Wisconsin moving into the top 25 matters It’s not really for this week, but for next week it’s a big deal that the Badgers slipped in at No. 25. The Cardinal have played mostly dominant football since losing in Week 1. While not their most impressive win, the Irish have had one of the better showing across the season among teams contending for a national title.

Before jumping into the analysis of the top 10.

The SEC is known for getting love from the voters, and that love should show its true colors once again when the new rankings come out. “If I’m sitting there looking at the teams, I think being in it now for 25-plus years, you’re looking at strength of schedule, the eye test, who they played, how they’ve played, and I think we all want to get it right, get the four best teams and have them play”.

Last week, I wrote that despite Iowa’s No. 9 ranking, all the Hawkeyes had to do was win out and they’d be in the College Football Playoff.

Nebraska finally got a break – a huge one from the refs – in shocking MI State 39-38. In reality, it doesn’t really matter where you rank inside the top four, as long as you are in the top four (Ohio State proved that last season). Still, the love for the SEC will prevail over the unbeaten Buckeyes, for this week at least. Notre Dame has, according to Jeff Long the chairman of the college football playoff committee, solidified theirselves in the number four slot. No. 6 Baylor was the highest-ranked team from the conference, followed by Oklahoma State (8) and TCU (15).

Florida. What a turnaround for Jim McElwain: Gators were 11-13 in two previous seasons.

Ohio State/Iowa: Both these teams need to win out and win the conference.

With that in mind, the Big Ten and Big 12 both have backloaded schedules with major matchups playing out over these final few weeks, so expect continued change in our top four. The Pokes still get Baylor and Oklahoma at home to end the season; Baylor plays Oklahoma this weekend and travels to TCU a day after Thanksgiving (and also plays Texas December 5).

Take Oklahoma State, for instance, which finishes with Baylor and OU.

Clemson (9-0) retained its hold on the top spot in the latest poll, with the Tigers surviving a showdown with Florida State to remain one of six undefeated teams in the country.