MI State will lose to Ohio State (10-0) on the road but beat Penn State (7-3) in their final game of the year. If the Hawkeyes win out and beat Ohio State (or whoever the Big Ten East champion is), they’ll be in. By the end of the season Notre Dame will jump back up after it plays Stanford. A few more wins here, and some people will walk around saying that if Keenan Reynolds had played more than sparingly on October 10, Navy (9-1) would have throttled Notre Dame (9-1).
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11-1 Oklahoma or 11-1 Notre Dame?
The committee’s rankings suggest the Pac-12 might not be dead yet. Assuming the Gators win out (the assumption for each of the teams under discussion), that would pit Florida and Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, with the general expectation being that the 1-loss Crimson Tide would win and advance to the playoff.
To me, Notre Dame’s loss at Clemson is a better result than Alabama’s home loss to Mississippi.
Then Oklahoma travels to Oklahoma State in the season finale, giving both teams a chance at high-profile wins.
North Carolina still might be too low at No. 17, but at least the Tar Heels moved up six spots after their demolition of Miami. Notre Dame needs the Trojans to beat No. 23 OR on the road this weekend, which will be a tough task.
OR and USC are back in the top 25. The Cowboys score a ton of points and have a big signature win against TCU. Based on tiebreaking scenarios, Saturday’s matchup is critical for each team to make the Pac-12 Championship game on December 5. This idea of Notre Dame playing Boston College in the old seam shed might seem ludicrous, but football at Fenway Park did bring us Vin Scully. This all means nothing if the Bears can’t topple the Cowboys, but winning could be more doable than it might appear-Oklahoma State has looked less than impressive in multiple games this season. But it’s hard to argue they deserve a spot above undefeated Iowa and Oklahoma State right now. Florida State (8-2) 15. They are one of just six remaining undefeated teams.
ESPN’s David Pollack asked an interesting question last night, one that I am curios to know the answer to. They could get a second stroke of good fortune this week if TCU star quarterback Trevone Boykin cannot play because of injury. If that happens, will the Sooners get dinged a bit by two of its three best wins coming against opponents whose starting QB’s were injured?
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While the Sooners are back in the headlines and back in a big way this week in the talk among college football writers and those who make a living analyzing and commenting on the game as a team that could potentially play its way into the Playoff picture, there are still a lot of hypotheticals that have to play out for it to be so. Florida; 9. MI State; 10. Oklahoma’s receiver caught an eye-popping 14 passes for 177 yards during Baylor’s first loss, out-receiving Baylor star Corey Coleman, whose 3-for-51 wasn’t bad but looked puny. While the Tigers took their first step towards a deflating strength of schedule in the final weeks of the season, their undefeated record is plenty enough to maintain a hold on the number one spot. Oklahoma State already has two one-loss opponents ahead of it, so a loss likely knocks them out of the race.
