Top five unchanged in College Football Playoff rankings, with Big Ten title

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee came out with their second-to-last rankings on Tuesday night, and when the bottom half of the rankings were revealed, the Vols’ name made an appearance for the first time ever in the College Football Playoff rankings.

While four of the top five teams will sweat out a conference title game this week, No. 3 Oklahoma (11-1) will sit idle as the 10-team Big 12 continues to operate without a championship game.

The biggest matchup this week is the Big Ten Conference title game, which pits No. 4 Iowaagainst No. 5 Michigan State with the victor all but assured of securing a spot in the four-team playoff. With the strength of the Big Ten this season, it’s become a foregone conclusion that the victor of the conference will move onto the playoffs.

Ohio State’s case: The Buckeyes just throttled MI, finally looking like the No. 1 team we’ve known lurked inside them all season. Ohio State’s only top-25 win is over No. 15 MI. The rest of the top-10 is rounded out with Florida State at No. 9 and North Carolina at No. 10. Otherwise, beat FSU, have Alabama lose to Auburn, and then beat either Alabama or Mississippi (if Ole Miss beats Mississippi State) to win the SEC title, and hope for the best.

Rivalry games can be tricky and both Clemson and Alabama had difficultly pulling away in their annual in-state grudge matches.

– Although it’s not factored in this week’s ranking, Oklahoma will be the Big 12 champion, a key component for the committee’s criteria. The top 4 teams earn spots in the National Semifinals December 31. The selection committee will unveil its final ballot the following day, December 6.

Path to the Playoff: With Stanford knocking out Notre Dame, the Buckeyes stay in the outer fringes of the Playoff conversation as a second potential Big Ten entrant. Notre Dame at 11-1 probably would have forced the committee to at least reconsider whether the Fighting Irish belonged in over maybe the Big 12 champion Sooners or the Big Ten champion. Stanford has two losses and is four spots behind the Sooners.

The Jayhawks record at 0-12 might not seem that impressive, but they did give an FBS team, South Dakota State, quite a battle only losing 41-38.

(9-1) Baylor (#10 in the A&H Rankings): Win at TCU (#15 in the A&H Rankings), win at home against Texas (#58 in the A&H Rankings), hope Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma, hope Clemson or Notre Dame loses, and hope to prevail with the committee. The committee does value conference titles, though, so if Stanford can thump USC, maybe that’ll be enough – with some help – to get David Shaw’s team in.

Clemson retained the top spot this week in spite of a lackluster win over woeful SC.

The Sooners remained at No. 3 in the updated CFP rankings, within the projected four-team playoff bracket. We will receive our final College Football Playoff Rankings on Sunday December 6th. North Carolina 11-111. TCU 10-212.