The top two of the College Football Playoff rankings remained unchanged from last week: No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama. Are we having fun yet? In Week 2, Notre Dame trailed Virginia (4-7) with 12 seconds left before third-string quarterback, and now starter, Deshone Kizer entered to toss a game winning 40-yard touchdown pass. The Committee may not look on such a tight win over a mediocre Virginia squad as a good win.
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And it’s not like Notre Dame’s offense didn’t do anything right against Boston College.
The College Football Playoff debuted last season and most would say it was a resounding success – unless you’re partial to either Baylor or TCU, in which you think it was a sham.
Adams has rushed for 592 yards on 84 carries, the fourth highest total for a freshman in a season at Notre Dame. Then again, the humanization of the selection process might benefit them because the committee can take into account the Wolverines’ last-second loss to Michigan State.
Baylor picked up a 45-35 win over the Cowboys despite starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham, Seth Russell’s replacement, leaving the game due to injury at halftime.
Do they reward one-loss conference champions like Iowa and North Carolina by taking them over two-loss teams like MI and Oklahoma? No way would the Sooners play in the Cotton Bowl as the fourth-ranked team; that would be too much of a homefield disadvantage for the No. 1-ranked team. Ohio State, Florida, and Oklahoma State all had big drops this week, however, the Buckeyes still have a 25% chance to be in the playoff. Notre Dame dropped out of the top four to No. 6. Clemson is coming off a highly-emotional win over conference rivals, Florida State Seminoles, in Week 10. Like once in a decade lucky. “They know that they don’t control that”. Either team will do for this part, but a Baylor loss to a ranked team would be better in the committee’s eyes than a loss to Texas.
The selection committee is composed of 12 members, including Jeff Long, Barry Alvarez, Mike Gould, Kirby Hocutt, Tom Jernstedt, Bobby Johnson, Tom Osborne, Dan Radakovich, Condoleeza Rice, Mike Tranghese, Steve Wieberg and Tyrone Willingham. And there are those simply playing for the fun/hate of it, but we’ll leave them for another time. We don’t speak in terms of bad loss/good loss. For example, Notre Dame has gotten “dinged” for beating Wake Forest at home by 21. The Tigers also beat Boston College by 17. Notre Dame has one of the most storied programs in the United States with eleven football championships acknowledged by the NCAA and seven Heisman Trophy winners boosting their resumes.
College Football Playoff Poll for November 24, 2015. TCU cranked up its No. 3 quarterback option and still came within a two-point conversion of pulling off the win. So clearly, the committee is losing its crush on Notre Dame.
“They’re in a position to accomplish the mission, and that was to have an opportunity to be one of the four teams selected for the playoffs”, coach Brian Kelly said. Is “a win a win” or do style points matter?
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Do you really want the answer? The Sooners jumped from No. 7 to No. 3 in the weekly rankings and a road win over the No. 11 team in the country would seemingly solidify their spot. That win, which is looking stronger every week, plus a few other impressive victories could help out the Irish. Good luck, committee! On the off chance any of you are listening, I vote for Navy. But will a one loss Clemson team with the ACC title make it in? 18 TCU at home last week and look to take a commanding lead in the Big XII with the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State on Saturday. With the Sooners being rated #3, they are in with a win. UCLA has won each of the last three contests in this series, but these teams are pretty even and this game could be closer than past contests.
