The College Football Playoff committee surely isn’t concerned with how Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly feels about their evaluation of which four teams should gain access to the National Playoff, however, the coach was prescient in divulging his thoughts early Tuesday prior to the Fighting Irish being named to one of the coveted spots later that day.
Advertisement
The Tar Heels finally crack the top 25 after boatracing Duke, and while I can understand the committee questioning their schedule to a degree, at what point do we reward teams for winning games (especially in convincing fashion)? Wins over Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU-along with upcoming matchups against Mississippi State and Florida in the SEC title game-should be enough to get an impressive Alabama squad into the playoff.
The Utes are a peg below Alabama, Notre Dame and Stanford in terms of the CFP outlook but they are still definitely in the hunt.
Ezekiel Elliott is Ohio State football. Bama has a 56.2% chance to win the SEC (key criteria for inclusion in the postseason), a 42.7% chance to win the best conference in college football without losing another game and a 38.7% chance to be included in the four-team field.
Odds for each team to advance to and win the championship: Clemson (34.2%), Notre Dame (11.4%), Alabama (32.2%), Ohio State (22.2%).
Assuming Stanford beats Notre Dame, MSU would need Stanford and Utah – the one-loss teams in the Pac-12 – to each lose one more. Long said the committee had the toughest time with positions five through eight, which include Iowa, Baylor, Stanford and Oklahoma State, saying that the committee “has a hard time evaluating teams that don’t have big wins”.
Oklahoma State leaped into the top ten after throttling TCU. Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma are all poised to jump into the top four. Not only has Notre Dame won its games, but the Irish have beaten a higher caliber schedule than, say, Iowa, for example.
Clemson, Alabama, and Oklahoma State were the big winners last week, as they defeated Top 16 teams and solidified their playoff hopes. The Bears are the only team in the nation to lead every game by at least 13 points, which begs an obvious question: How will they respond if/when they trail by 13? Notre Dame improved to 9-1 with a 28-7 win over Wake Forest in South Bend, Ind., in which Adams broke the school record with his 98-yard scoring run.
Following Clemson in the standings are Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
Two previously unbeaten teams tumbled. Baylor needs to win this one at home because the next two games are on the road against Oklahoma State and TCU. The Cardinal will host OR and California the next two weeks before its showdown with Notre Dame. There are just too many factors for either Baylor or Oklahoma State to overcome between now and the end of the season, regardless of the back loaded Big 12 schedule.
The Tigers face three opponents with a combined nine wins to cap the regular season. Just like Notre Dame, if they can find a way to sweep their remaining schedule – including a Pac-12 Championship win – they will be in the mix. Ohio State Buckeyes 4.
Trotter: I would be willing to wager heavy money that if the Big 12 got left out again with a worthy team sitting there, it would implement a championship game for next season – provided the autonomous conferences vote in January to give the Big 12 the power to hold a championship game with just 10 teams. LSU (7-1) 10. Utah (8-1) 11.
The ACC has just three teams in the poll in Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina.
Advertisement
If Florida, which only has one-loss and has already clinched the SEC East, wins out, it’d likely make the playoff. MI State Spartans 14. While Oklahoma State is known for its offense (almost 500 yards per game), its defense intercepted star QB Trevone Boykin four times last week. “They did make a good move forward with that Colorado win on the road”. Navy Midshipmen 21. Memphis Tigers 22. “They’ve got a couple of top 25 wins that have been impressive”.
