If those two teams meet in the league’s championship game, the victor is all but assured of a semifinal berth.
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Notre Dame would be in the role of Ohio State this season, but it’s not quite the same. Notre Dame, yeah, being fourth and then dropping to sixth stinks, but go an blowout Stanford, and that changes right back. The victor of the Navy-Houston game will host either Temple or South Florida next Saturday at 12 noon in the American Championship game.
And there’s no great opportunity for Notre Dame to narrow the gap. The first meeting of Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh has lost some of its juice.
Here what Long had to say to ESPN’s Rece Davis about the consideration given to the Sooners in the discussion and voting this week by the Playoff selection committee by clicking on this article and video.
The Fighting Irish, therefore, benefit by Ohio State’s loss as they move into third in the rankings. The win in Week 5 against Ole Miss stands out, but the loss to an LSU team that has now dropped three straight would be a big check against the Gators.
How Mayfield’s injury impacted the Sooners’ defense allowing 22 second-half points to TCU’s “B” offense isn’t entirely clear.
Last season the committee liked TCU more than Baylor all season, despite the Bears beating the Horned Frogs in October. It’s not a good sign when, in a blind test, Navy is drawing similar number of votes. The best Baylor can do in the conference is tie with Oklahoma, the only team it has lost to at this point. Iowa (40-20 win vs. Purdue) 6. The Irish could gain ground this week, however, because they face No. 9-ranked Stanford on the Cardinal’s home field. Just a couple of weeks remain for some one-loss teams to really prove their worth in the playoff race.
Nevertheless, it was interesting and somewhat surprising to hear why the committee put Iowa ahead.
It’s pretty clear that this team has been looking toward next year for quite some time and a season without Caleb Rowe or Perry Hills starting at quarterback has to be refreshing to think about. Sure, throw the win over Tennessee into the equation, too, but Iowa has wins over No. 16 Northwestern along with a Wisconsin team that just got hosed by those Wildcats – and it doesn’t have a loss to Texas. Iowa is a fine team.
Iowa would be a one-loss Big Ten champ. The undefeated Clemson Tigers still hold the top spot. Clemson is also No. 1 this week by Associated Press and USA Today. There wasn’t much interest in shifting the order.
Clemson remained No. 1 and Alabama moved up one spot to No. 2. I believe the committee members are either consciously or subliminally mindful of that. Matchups matter. Many teams will want to avoid Alabama’s vaunted defensive line for as long as possible.
Alabama: The Crimson Tide might have the nation’s top defense.
Oklahoma (10-1) handled TCU and finishes the regular season at Oklahoma State, which is 11th in the CFP rankings.
In my opinion this is the top-four you see tonight.
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Michigan State Spartans quarterback Connor Cook (18) and Michigan State Spartans wide receiver Matt Macksood (86) celebrate after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium.
