Baylor and Oklahoma State are in a similar boat, with identical resumés. Okay, now that I’ve covered that for the umpteenth time this year, let’s get to the interesting part. Oklahoma’s junior quarterback has been the catalyst in the Sooners’ surge during the second half of the season. 1 and 2, followed by Oklahoma and Iowa.
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Yeah, Oklahoma escaped TCU, just barely, when Sooners defensive back Steven Parker batted down a two-point conversion with 51 seconds left. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, a Heisman Trophy hopeful, passed concussion tests and is expected to play.
That clearly changed the complexion of the game. And even after three months of craziness, things are as wide open as ever. Notre Dame will need to find a way to jump two spots in the rankings to get into the playoffs and all of the teams ahead of them do have tough, potentially lose-able games left on their slates. But we can’t rule them out at this point.
What if Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma, and Baylor beats TCU and Texas? Despite the ACC leading in average margin of victory, average KO time, and strength of schedule, the teams in the AAC have put together a slightly better record in the win column. The fact of the matter is, these Baylor and Oklahoma teams are good.
7-Baylor at 19-TCU (Fri.): The Bears are down to their third-string QB, and the Frogs’ Trevone Boykin won’t be anywhere near 100 percent if he plays.
Iowa moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll, taking advantage of the first losses by Ohio State and Oklahoma State to slip in behind No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama.
“There’s going to continue to be movement unless you’re Clemson and Alabama at the top”, Herbstreit said. But coach Brian Kelly had said earlier Tuesday he believes they will be in if they close the regular season with a win at Stanford (9-2), which is No. 9 in the CFP rankings. However, the Yellow Jackets have lost eight of their last nine games and that one possession win over a 3-8 squad looks less impressive. But this question could be rephrased as: Did the committee treat Florida like it did TCU? This game features perhaps the game’s top linebacker against the most versatile offensive threat. More likely, it showed the committee was paying attention to how teams were playing – yeah, the eye test. The reigning champs stood at No. 3 in each of the previous CFP rankings this season, but a heartbreaking loss to Michigan State(which rose to No. 5 this week) sent the Buckeyes spiraling down to No. 8. It’s hottest team might be #10 MI, a two-loss team and the last of the conference’s four teams. It’s clear the committee has not been impressed.
For one, this week we got our first clue that the Big-12 should be sitting pretty if Oklahoma wins at rival Oklahoma State. The Tide will come a long way with Henry powering the team.
That has Big 12 fans understandably wondering if the league is setup for another fall from No. 3 even if the Sooners take care of business on Saturday in Stillwater. Neither is ranked now. If the Hawkeyes beat Nebraska and Sparty then no amount of screaming will keep a 13-0 team out of the playoff.
The only now ranked opponent Alabama has beaten is No. 21 Mississippi State.
“The Boston College game didn’t add a lot to their résumé”, Long said. “How they played in that game, the closeness of that loss is something that’s discussed”. Penn State is coming off back to back losses but can salvage their season with an upset of the Spartans.
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Oklahoma State’s 45-35 loss to Baylor dropped the Cowboys from fourth to ninth and pushed Baylor to seventh.
