Other teams on the playoff fringes include No. 7 Stanford (10-2), which faces No. 20 Southern California (8-4) in Saturday’s Pac-12 championship game, and No. 6 Ohio State (11-1), last year’s national champion that did not qualify to play in this year’s Big Ten title game.
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Less than a week before the four teams are selected for the College Football Playoff, Oklahoma sat in the No. 3 spot in Tuesday’s rankings – the same spot occupied by TCU past year.
North Carolina’s weak nonconference schedule – IL and FCS teams North Carolina A&T and DE – and lack of a victory over a top-25 team are the reasons it is ranked only 14th. The Tigers face North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Saturday night with a chance to secure the top seed in the four-team playoff. But, it’s not insane to think UNC could dump Clemson.
Few conference championships this week will act as play-in games for the playoff as a win for a few teams would guarantee a spot in the College Football Playoff in early January. As long as they win, they will be in.
Can you imagine how it would look now?
Next up for Alabama is the SEC Championship Game against a floundering Florida team.
Iowa has had to listen to the doubters all season. Ohio State, last year’s champion, could also make a repeat appearance in the bracket if both the Tigers and Crimson Tide lose.
If Ohio State somehow were to reach the playoff again, that would cast the Big Ten in an even larger new light as the first league to snare two spots in a single season. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, their lone loss came against the one team they couldn’t afford to falter against: Michigan State. Michigan State, 11-1 (5) 6. At this point, it’s pretty simple for Sparty. 12 MI, and the Spartans will be in the top four if they beat Iowa.
Folks, they lost on a failed two-point conversion to No. 1 Clemson and lost on a field goal as time expired against now No. 7 Stanford.
There’s been some talk of North Carolina rocketing into the CFP rankings with a victory, but even if they upset Clemson it would stand as just their second victory over a ranked opponent and doesn’t wipe away the season-opening loss to lowly SC. This playoff is tough to make as only four teams get in out of all the D1 schools.
Ohio State (11-1), which wrapped up its season with a win over MI, moved up to sixth this week. Stanford 8. Notre Dame 9. That could be extra motivation for the Trojans and making it a trap game for Stanford this Saturday in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The playoff picture is likely to change only if Alabama or Clemson lose.
The seeding is about as uncertain as it could be at this time, as Long said there were deliberations atop the poll with unbeaten Clemson and one-loss SEC champ Alabama, both of which play in conference title games on Saturday.
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The final poll will be released Sunday morning, with pairings for the remaining four CFP access bowls revealed later that afternoon.
