The committee likely chose not to punish Ohio State for its struggles with Cardale Jones because J.T. Barrett is returning after his brutal punishment of a one-game suspension and three-day alcohol class.
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The Demon Deacons have not been good at all this season and can not be counted on to win any games. Only Iowa or Ohio State will emerge from the Big Ten. We’re still waiting for it.
Is it a lock that if Notre Dame wins out it makes the Final Four? Iowa made a big move, up to No. 5. What did we learn from all of this? Iowa may not have many top-end wins to speak of, but it does have a large number of solid wins.
And while Stanford can cannibalize Notre Dame and Utah, Stanford could also beat Notre Dame and lose to Utah. The automatic spot is available only to a conference champion from one of those five leagues.
Navy, which upset Memphis last week, took over the top spot among the Group of 5 teams at No. 20. Both TCU and LSU lost to top 10 teams, and both dropped 7 spots in the rankings.
Is Alabama going to get to No. 1?
Can jet lag really factor into a team’s résumé? The same goes for Iowa – the win at UW could mean the difference between being No. 3 and No. 4. It’s why we see No. 4 Notre Dame now in the playoff picture. Will the committee be cool with a rematch? The committee feels that Oklahoma State’s home loss to Baylor and Baylor’s loss to a two-loss TCU team are worse than LSU’s one loss at Bama. The bigger problem could be the other conferences.
Clemson: If the Tigers face North Carolina in the ACC title game, it will be playing a team with a unsafe offense and 11-game winning streak.
You could make a case for Oklahoma if they can down both Baylor and OK State in the next few weeks (those games sandwich a meeting with TCU, as the Big 12 has apparently decided that October football is completely irrelevant) that they should be in the mix.
– SEC: Florida State beats Florida, giving Florida a second loss. Of course, but it would still be an interesting discussion. But Long offered another reason why the committee is not looking too harshly on the Cardinal for the Northwestern loss: It happened at 9 a.m. on the Stanford players’ body clocks. The Seminoles don’t have any real wins of note, but they managed to stay at No. 16 despite the loss to Clemson.
Alabama (8-1) jumped to No. 2 behind No. 1 Clemson (9-0). Notre Dame was fifth, and Oklahoma State 14th. The message being sent instead right now is that taking care of cupcakes but losing your important games will get you ranked. Even Baylor and Houston have better wins than Wisconsin has. Kansas State? Texas Tech?
As the 2015 college football season continues to move forward, we’re inching closer and closer to finding out which four teams will get the opportunity to participate in the second-ever College Football Playoff.
“Oklahoma State, to me, should have been in the top four”. That’s why the idea that the Irish are in with three more wins seems flawed. Navy was the highest-ranked Group of Five team this week at No. 20. By finishing the regular season undefeated and beating whoever emerges from the East in the Big Ten title game (Iowa fans should be hoping to play an undefeated Ohio State team), the Hawkeyes would present a very strong case to the committee. It’s still possible to do this.
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The Irish moved up from No. 5 to the fourth spot following then-No. 500 have proven that they can match any strength of schedule, including a win over now No. 4 Notre Dame. The Midshipmen suffered their only loss to date on October 10 at Notre Dame. The Buckeyes’ best win is over 7-3 Penn State. Baylor (CFP: No. 6) 11. Northwestern (CFP: No. 18) 14. USC (CFP: Not Ranked) 21.
