The steady and successful play of Oklahoma and Iowa was rewarded Tuesday as both teams moved into the top four in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
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Oklahoma (10-1) seems to be in solid shape, with one game left in its season. For Michigan State, the Spartans have to beat Penn State this weekend to punch their ticket to the Big 10 Championship.
SALT LAKE CITY After a disappointing loss to UCLA Saturday, Utah has dropped 10 spots in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. With Oklahoma (#3), Baylor (#7) and Oklahoma State (#11) all looking at potentially making a run at a playoff spot, Notre Dame would like the teams to knock each other off and create a messy situation at the top of the conference. The Sooners can clinch the Big 12 title with a victory, but will they have to play without quarterback Baker Mayfield?
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.
MSU (10-1, 6-1 Big Ten) moved up from No. 9 to No. 5 in the rankings after Saturday’s 17-14 win at then-No.
This week, seven of the top eight teams in the country play on the road, and Notre Dame has the highest chance of losing (63 percent), according to the ESPN FPI. But only one of those teams will make the Final Four, and the Hawkeyes have a much less impressive resume compared to the Spartans.
No. 8 Ohio State beat the Hoosiers just 34-27 as IN threw a pass into the endzone on the game’s final play after a fourth-down snap from the 9-yardline that hit a receiver IN the hands.
Before you discredit all of these upset scenarios as unbelievable or impossible remember that the road to the national championship is paved with the broken dreams of teams who got upset in the final week(s) of the season. We won’t get into the merit of those wins right now because its clear the committee values them and their opinions are the only ones that matter.
An Oklahoma loss and a Notre Dame loss could leave Baylor (9-1) and Stanford (9-2) vying for the last playoff spot as conference champions. The Big Ten is all over the playoff rankings. This. Is. Ohio State.
Ohio State was No. 3 last week, but slipped to No. 8 after its loss to Michigan State, which rose to No. 5. That might not be the case this season, as the ‘Noles have two losses, and one-loss Florida has been the epitome of winning ugly lately.
So this weekend for Irish fans it will be cheer, cheer not only for Notre Dame, but for the Nittany Lions to take out Michigan State, Nebraska to sideswipe Iowa, and for bedlam to prevail in the Oklahoma State-Oklahoma matchup in Stillwater. Toledo (10-1) out of the Mid-American Conference came in at No. 24, followed by Temple (9-2) at No. 25. “It was more about the performance of Oklahoma and Michigan State against top-ranked teams”. The Sooners have no such problem, with a win at Tennessee (7-4) to their credit. TCU could beat Baylor, leaving only the Cowboys with one loss. Jake Rudock is firing on all cylinders and Michigan has won four straight, with a chance to make it six by beating Ohio State and – if the Nittany Lions win at Michigan State – Iowa in the Big Ten title game. A loss in that game would all but eliminate the Pac-12’s bid for a spot.
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While Clemson and Alabama remained 1-2 in the rankings, there was some shakeup in the top four. Oklahoma State can still win its second conference title in five years with a victory.
