Stanford holds steady at 24 in the College Football Playoff rankings

Ohio State (10-1) remained at No. 2, MI (10-1) at No. 3 and Clemson (10-1) at No. 4.

The College Football Playoff rankings, selected by 12 committee members, was instituted for the 2014 season.

Alabama is the lone remaining unbeaten team at 11-0. The safest seems to be Ohio State, but even some argue that they don’t belong in unless they win a conference championship.

Minnesota LB Blake Cashman has been coming up big since early November and played his best game last week, finishing with 10 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in the win over Northwestern. The committee can always change its mind within the next two weeks, but if the members stick to the sentiments expressed by Hocutt tonight, Ohio State will be a Playoff lock with a win over MI this Saturday.

“Put the brakes on when you get to SEC Championship Game”, analyst Joey Galloway said. Since the Big Ten champ (assuming it’s either Ohio State or MI in this case) and another Big Ten team are in a semifinal, the Rose Bowl would choose the next highest-ranked Big Ten team, which would be No. 6 Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions, ranked seventh, would win the East division with a defeat of Michigan State and a loss by the Wolverines against the Buckeyes.

If Wisconsin wins out to finish off a Big Ten Championship season, it could be hard for the committee to exclude them from the four-team playoff, even with two losses. Although Penn State beat the Buckeyes, the teams’ résumés remain dissimilar (starting with records: Ohio State is 10-1, Penn State is 9-2). MI is No. 3 in the country, and Ohio State is No. 2.

This is of course drawing parallels to when MI coach Jim Harbaugh made his famous guarantee against Ohio State in 1986 when he was playing quarterback for the Wolverines. But it still remains that there is no one-loss team from a Power-5 conference ranked lower than fifth.

CU’s opponent this week, Utah (8-3, 5-3) tumbled 10 spots to No. 22 after losing to OR last week. There is a path for Oklahoma to make it, but a lot of chaos would have to take place within the top seven.

The second scenario involves a MI win, and results in a much clearer and uncontroversial top four.

“Does the selection committee see a small margin of separation this week between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State?”

OSU coach Urban Meyer embraces redshirt sophomore cornerback Marshon Lattimore (2) following the Buckeyes 30-23 overtime win over the Wisconsin Badgers on October 15.

At the very worst, that scenario would have the committee debating between Washington, Oklahoma State, and maybe a second Big Ten team for the final spot in the playoff. That alone still wouldn’t be enough for Oklahoma.

With modern-day titans of coaching on each side and both teams contending for a national championship, this feels as if it could be the start of something big: A new era of epic competition between two coaches with roots that trace back to the men who defined the rivalry. Oklahoma should jump a two-loss Clemson.

Ultimately, what happens with Washington and the Big 10 will decide what happens in the playoff.

A win over a top 10 team in Wisconsin would bolster PSU’s resume.

In Week 12, however, there wasn’t any chaos at all.

The Ohio State-Michigan clash is set for noon Saturday, then Penn State plays Michigan State at 3:30.

All of which means some committee members might be very, very tempted to pull very hard for MI this week. It isn’t guaranteed, but it’s very possible.

Barring overtime or any delays, the outcome of the game between the Wolverines and Buckeyes will be known prior to kickoff for Penn State and the Spartans. The animosity is such that some Ohio State fans – as well as coaches and players – hesitate to utter their rival’s name, calling it “that school up north”. “The committee continues to be impressed with the MI team, who’s the only team in the current rankings to have three wins against current CFP Top 10 teams (and) continues to be very impressed with Michigan’s defense”. If things work out in Colorado’s favor, beating the Utes and Huskies, it would still need a little help.

The toughest call for the committee might be if the last spot comes down to a 12-1 Washington vs.an 11-2 Big Ten champ.

If it’s MI, the Wolverines would advance to the Big Ten title game and likely face Wisconsin. No other team, including No. 1 Alabama, has anything similar. Behind the Trojans are the other 3 Pac-12 teams in the rankings this week with Utah at 22, Washington State at 23 and Stanford at 24. 14 and 15. They are followed by Nebraska, Tennesseeand West Virginia. Each team has two “quality” losses: Colorado to MI and USC on the road, versus Oklahoma’s home loss to Ohio State and neutral-site loss to Houston.