In the Big 12’s undercard this week, Oklahoma must continue winning to make the Texas loss “go away”. Imagine this: half way through the college basketball season or so, the selection committee ranked the top-64 teams in their eyes. At this point, it becomes a question of which team is now more desperate. The Irish are in the thick of it as they look to secure one of their four playoff spots. Ohio State, however is sitting comfortably at No. 3.
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Florida’s beaten the Sooners for a national championship once. Maybe even two-loss MI or the Pac-12?
The Big 12 has the best chance of a two-loss team.
A tradition unlike any other….November Cupcake Week!
– The same matchup as last week, when it was Baylor that Oklahoma State barely beat out for No. 4.
Like I said earlier, the rankings should be based on the strength of schedule and the conference the team plays in because in that case, one of the teams that deserves a spot in the playoff (if the season were to end today) would be No. 6 Oklahoma State, who has yet to be defeated this season and is in a very respectable conference (Big 12) along with that, they have a tougher schedule than a few of the teams in front of them in the polls. There’s enough uproar upon the committee’s one and only public ranking, though, that making it a weekly process would practically bring down the house. The PAC-12 may not be shipping off any teams to the CFP this year, but this one’s going to be fun. However, I feel that it is the opposite.
Clemson claimed the top spot, with Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame filling out the rest of the potential playoff positions. Those teams are a combined 48-12 (80 percent winning percentage) this season. Their other non-conference opponents featured Eastern MI, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and Louisiana-Monroe.
Twelve weeks ago, this was the game we figured would decide the Big Ten, and it’s largely played out that way, though a resurgent MI also remains in the East race (and Iowa is an undefeated playoff contender, somewhat shockingly). A victory by MI and Ohio State this week will set up a winner-take-all The Game next week in Ann Arbor featuring Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer and a television executive’s dream. Baylor is likely out based on its loss to the Sooners and its incredibly weak schedule.
The Cowboys trailed 24-7 at three-win Iowa State last week before coming back for a 35-31 win. Division-leading North Carolina’s only loss is to SC (3-7).
For the sake of the Playoff, however, all it meant was that Stanford has a much more hard path to be in. 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.
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Quarterback Baker Mayfield has played his way into Heisman Trophy consideration, and tailbacks Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon give the Sooners one of the best one-two punches in college football. Unfortunately, it looks like the committee won’t be true to its word this year. (Iowa and Ohio State would be undefeated conference champions, and MI State would be 12-1 with wins over MI, Ohio State, and Iowa.) Likewise, if they were to win out, Alabama would get a bid as the 1-loss SEC champion, Clemson would get one as the undefeated ACC champion, and Oklahoma State would get one as the undefeated Big 12 champion. Between last year and this year, we’ve heard selection committee chairman Jeff Long’s rationale by throwing around jargon and trying to explain what’s most important when creating the top 25 each week. His column, “Beyond the Arc”, runs Thursdays. For now, the conference of champions will have to settle for the Rose Bowl.
