Week 10 Playoff Rankings

Is there actually a scenario where an SEC team doesn’t make the top four? That’s when the real fun begins.

But before that final list can be unveiled, each of the country’s top contenders must prove their worth on a weekly basis.

The 13-member committee, one short after the resignation of USC athletic director Pat Haden for medical reasons last weekend, is chaired by Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long. However, in the meantime, it’s always fun to take a look at how the picture is slowly coming together.

Final Four, Selection Sunday.

The big story here was Alabama’s (2) showdown with LSU (9), which ended with the Tide taking a slight edge in the West division. I also knew that Alabama would move to number-two in the land despite their loss to Ole Miss, who is now not even ranked inside the top-25 after losing their third game of the season.

Iowa, on the other hand, has played just three programs this entire season whose record is better – at this point – than one game above.500.

On Saturday against Wake Forest (3-6) at home, and November 21 against Boston College (3-7), the No. 1 priority for the Irish is to stay healthy while routing two struggling Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Fortunately for the Bears, with a meeting with the Oklahoma Sooners on the horizon, their schedule is about to get a bit tough. “That’s the first piece of real strength we’ve seen from them, with that win over TCU”.

We guess it’s time to start taking the Iowa Hawkeyes seriously. 5 and 6, respectively, followed by Stanford (8-1) and Oklahoma State (9-0). By the end of the year, if they win out, it’s likely both Notre Dame and Baylor would have five wins over winning teams.

However, when it comes to the rankings that truly matter, Brian Kelly’s bunch finds itself in a position to punch a ticket to the second-ever College Football Playoff. “They were solidly at No. 4 with the committee”.

But rest assured that there’s another Ohio State lurking on the fringes, now sitting outside the single-digit rankings but poised to surge between today and December 6.

The top four’s current configuration would give the Orange Bowl a Clemson-Notre Dame matchup. In the second of six rankings, the committee ranked a top four of Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame. On top of that, Nick Saban’s bunch climbed to No. 3 in the most recent AP poll. The College Football Playoff Committee has ZERO respect for the Big 12 conference. At this point, we can most certainly picture them rolling.

“They’ve got a couple of road victories in the Big Ten that are impressive and they have the overall strength of schedule of the undefeated teams other than Clemson, the No. 1 team”.

“If … Navy is in contention [for the playoff], the selection committee would convene by teleconference …” Even if TCU beats Oklahoma and Baylor, it’s hard to imagine Gary Patterson’s squad rising all the way from No. 15 back into the top four. With the way things are going, the folks in Death Valley may just get that pizza party after all.