Clemson is still No. 1 and Alabama remained No. 2 in the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings. Now it becomes a North Carolina, Clemson, Ohio State debate. Ohio State climbed back to No. 6 after their impressive road rout of No. 15 MI on Saturday. If Clemson remains No. 1 it likely will be coming to Miami to face the No. 4 seed.
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Consider last year’s narrative that the lack of title game hurt Big 12 contenders negated. Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, Iowa and Michigan State are ranked 1-5, in that order.
And while all three of those teams have two losses, save for Florida State’s loss to Georgia Tech, they’re all good losses. OR 9-3 17. Oklahoma State 10-2 18. Michigan State is No. 5.
The possibility for chaos exists, especially if No. 10 North Carolina were to beat No. 1 Clemson in the ACC championship game. The Sooners are safely in position to be in the Final Four after clinching the Big 12 championship at Oklahoma State on Saturday. Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Houston and Florida State have all been mentioned as possible bowl opponents for the Irish.
That reflects the Tar Heels’ disrespected schedule that includes two teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, North Carolina A&T and Delaware. If all of that happens and UNC beats Clemson, there’s a chance.
While the committee gave a debut ranking to No. 25 Tennessee (8-4), which would seem to help Oklahoma’s cause because Oklahoma won at Tennessee, it kept a strong respect for the American Athletic Conference.
“North Carolina and Ohio State in the multiple number of strengths of record metrics we look at, they’re not close”, Long said on a conference call with reporters. After a one-week hiatus, USC returns to the CFP rankings at No. 20, fresh off a victory over crosstown rival UCLA. We’ve seen evidence that the committee cares more about wins than an individual loss. “It depends on how the other teams play and what the results are above and below them”. Iowa’s schedule includes the Big Ten West Division. The Owls (10-2) are No. 22. 11 and 12, respectively.
Moving past Oklahoma will be hard, but should Clemson and or Alabama lose, the Spartans could reach as high as No. 3. Navy dropped eight spots from last week.
Thoughts on the fifth College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday night.
Personally, I think people are overlooking the No. 1 team in the country, if that makes sense. The championship game will be January 11 at Glendale, Ariz.
MSU is third in the Big Ten in scoring offense, while the Hawkeyes are second. That would open the door for Stanford or Ohio State, and again the guess here is the conference championship tips the scales to the Pac-12 victor.
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So if the committee really is ranking based not only on who you’ve beaten, but who you’ve lost to, and not just the quantity of each, then it makes flawless sense for North Carolina to be ranked behind those three teams. But, if USC wins, the Pac-12 is out.
