Predicting the College Football Playoff committee’s excuses for Ohio State

But, in all likelihood, the now-No.

It made sense that Ohio State and Sportsman of the Year Ezekiel Elliott dropped out of the top four upon losing to Michigan State and that Oklahoma rose from its No. 7 position of last week, but it made zero sense that the Sooners jumped all the way to No. 3, catapulting the likes of Iowa and Notre Dame in the process.

“I’m hoping the committee recognizes their schedule, because I think their schedule matches up with anybody in the country”, Jackson said of the Spartans before Tuesday’s rankings.

They have favorable comparative outcomes involving Texas (when comparing scores vs. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) and Pitt (vs. Iowa’s three-point win). 500 or better records vaulted the Sooners to No. 3. Prosise is doubtful with a high ankle sprain for the biggest game of the season when the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish play No. 13 Stanford on Saturday with a college football playoff berth on the line. But would the playoff committee really be prepared to leave out a one-loss SEC champion? They’ve been solid, to be sure, with victories over good teams like Navy, Temple and Pittsburgh.

Several games this weekend have the potential to shake up the top four even more.

– While giving due credit to Chris Johnson, his second-half performance against Oklahoma State shows that Baylor might have one of the most quarterback-friendly offenses on the planet.

Now we’re about to turn the lights out on them too. If the committee felt the Irish were a stronger team last week, Iowa certainly didn’t do anything to move past them, and so Notre Dame lands at number three.

The first chance of that would be with some Big 12 chaos.

Baylor, which still plays two more games at TCU and home against Texas, could also possibly get back into the top four by season’s end. They both need either an Oklahoma loss (which OSU directly controls, but Baylor does not), and a Notre Dame loss.

Instead, the Big Ten is in great shape, thanks in part to its fifth-best team.

Michigan State will host Penn State and, with a win, will play in the Big 10 Championship Game the following week. Should Michigan State get to the Big Ten championship, it seems an unbeaten Iowa or one-loss Michigan State team would earn a place in the four-team playoff. Auburn is bad, so it would be massive if they upset Alabama.

It’s important to note that based on the committee’s rankings, it considers two-loss Stanford (No. 9) better than one-loss Oklahoma State (No. 11).

Notre Dame’s chances of making the playoff fell for the second straight week, down from 26% last week to 21% this week.

Clemson: The Tigers should breeze past rival SC but could be tested by North Carolina in the ACC championship game. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 3, but dropped to No. 8 as a result of the loss. Notre Dame, yeah, being fourth and then dropping to sixth stinks, but go an blowout Stanford, and that changes right back.

The race for entrance into this season’s College Football Playoff might be winding down, but that doesn’t mean the drama in each of the Power 5 conferences is finished.