Clemson is still No. 1 and Alabama remained No. 2, both needing a victory in their conference championship games Saturday to lock up a playoff spot.
Advertisement
Overrated – No. 14 Northwestern: Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald started doing some campaigning this week for his team to get an at-large berth to a New Year’s Six bowl, as any coach would do for their team.
People are saying that this past weekend’s results have made the College Football Playoff selection committee’s job easy.
Under that scenario – eight-team playoff and Florida winning the SEC – a twice-beaten SEC champion Florida would most certainly be in. “In addition, the pairings for the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl will be announced”.
The Spartans took down OR at home before going on the road for wins against MI and Ohio State.
This head-to-head debate may roar on Sunday, or it may be moot: Alabama and Clemson could win – should win, maybe – and make the committee’s four-team field a no-brainer.
A win over No. 1 and a conference championship would drastically alter the Tar Heels’ resume, but they have a lot of ground to make up. However, after a disappointing performance last week at SC where they eked out a 37-32 victory, a close win over North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game coupled with a dominant Alabama performance in the SEC Title Game may result in Clemson dropping to #2 in the final rankings. The Big 12 has no championship game, something that hurt the conference last season when TCU got passed by Ohio State, but a repeat isn’t coming this time. It’s an indication that the selection committee is not impressed with UNC’s strength of record, which includes two wins over FCS teams and a loss to SC.
Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa were the top four teams, followed by Michigan State, Ohio State, Stanford and Notre Dame. It has played two other ranked teams in No. 4 Iowa and No. 15 MI, and it lost those games 40-10 and 38-0. That puts the Buckeyes in a tough spot. Ohio State rolled over MI, but it could be a while before that happens again. If Iowa wins, Stanford’s not a threat to overtake the Hawkeyes.
The Gators did score against the Seminoles, eventually, but on the defensive side of the ball: Florida notched a safety in the fourth quarter to avoid its first shutout loss since 1988. Swinney received 27 of 50 votes; North Carolina’s Larry Fedora got 21. In addition, by raising Oklahoma to the top spot this week, the committee allows for any order of teams in the final week, after the remaining Conference Champions are crowned.
Stanford also may be able to slip into the playoff if it beats USC in the Pac-12 title game to finish 10-2.
(10-1) Michigan State (#4 in the A&H Rankings): Win out (at home against Penn State (#37 the A&H Rankings) and versus Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game).
The Vols came into the 2015 season ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll, the first time they had been ranked in a preseason poll since 2008.
The Tide have held opponents to 16 or fewer points in their last five games and have only allowed two opponents to hit the 20-point mark all season.
Advertisement
And while all three of those teams have two losses, save for Florida State’s loss to Georgia Tech, they’re all good losses. It may not consider North Carolina to be one of the four best teams in the country.
