Again, we begin with this important public service announcement: These rankings are meaningless.
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The College Football Playoff committee gave Oklahoma football some much-appreciated validation.
You can check out the entire top 25 poll below.
There are so many things that can happen between now and the final ranking on December 6 that could change the entire landscape of the Playoff.
It inevitably raises more questions, which we’ll attempt to answer.
Oklahoma: QB Baker Mayfield. Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman said ND will need to beat Stanford and get some serious help to get back in the Playoff. Oklahoma’s junior quarterback has been the catalyst in the Sooners’ surge during the second half of the season. He had a whopping five passing touchdowns in his last outing against Pittsburgh. If it wins this game, many believe the Sooners will have a spot in the championship tourney.
So, the fact that TCU’s starting quarterback missed the entire game means nothing? Even so, Oklahoma led 30-13 after three quarters.
Can Baylor get back into it? The Cardinal are sill in pursuit for a Pac-12 championship and have remote playoff aspirations, but it’s safe to say that whichever team loses this battle is effectively out of contention.
The Sooners jumped to No. 3 from No. 7 in the latest CFP Rankings. “So it’s more a function of how they’ve played and performed that has moved them past that loss to Texas”. This puts Iowa, a year removed from 7-6, a Black Friday collapse against Nebraska and a TaxSlayer Bowl humiliation, as close as a program can be in controlling its own destiny. If the Tigers win their final two games, they’re in. If the Hawkeyes and Spartans avoid losses against Nebraska and Penn State, respectively, the Big Ten Conference title game can be viewed as a Playoff play-in game. A spot below the undefeated Hawkeyes.
The semifinals pit the No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 and the No. 2 vs. the No. 3.
Is the committee consistent in its treatment of unimpressive wins? “They’ve done that over the last two weeks”. And the answer was: Yes. But it seems that they are being held to a different standard than some of the other teams, like Iowa for example. Translation: Alabama passes the eye test. Maybe. Florida dropped from eight to 12 after a frightful performance against Florida Atlantic, but it doesn’t matter.
No. 15 Navy (9-1) remained the top Group-of-5 team this week. So clearly, the committee is losing its crush on Notre Dame.
Clemson and Alabama are in the playoff if each win out, and you figure whoever survives the Big Ten Championship game is secured a spot. Switzer campaigned long and loud for a week that his OU team should easily leapfrog BYU because of strength of schedule. Neither is ranked now. Then lose to Alabama in the SEC Championship. As long as the Tide continues to roll, I am good with anything. Hogan will play the final home game of his stellar career.
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The bottom line is this: While the “win and get in” mentality is a very reasonable possibility, should the following scenarios play out, the Spartans will have plans on New Year’s Eve. And Penn State is good enough to take advantage of any MSU letdown. This year, the Sooners have the explosive Joe Mixon in place if something happens to Perine, leaving the Cowboys no better off. Oklahoma ranks 19th nationally in rushing offense; Oklahoma State is 70th in rushing defense.
