Less than a week before the four teams are selected for the College Football Playoff, Oklahoma sat in the No. 3 spot in Tuesday’s rankings – the same spot occupied by TCU previous year.
Advertisement
While Long told of vigorous debates in the committee room over Clemson or Alabama for No. 1 – Clemson has held it for all five weeks of the rankings – and over Iowa or Michigan State for No. 4, he did not note the same doubt around Oklahoma at No. 3 and cited the Sooners’ four wins over current top 25 teams. The Tigers face North Carolina in the ACC title game and Alabama meets Florida in for SEC honors.
Iowa (12-0) is No. 4 and Michigan State (11-1) is No. 5, setting up a playoff play-in game in Saturday’s Big Ten title game.
The Spartans (11-1) and Hawkeyes (12-0) will sort it out on the field at 8:17 p.m. on Saturday in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (TV: Fox). While Iowa’s zero in the loss column is not enough to push them past the tide, their metrics are actually slightly better this week than last when compared to Michigan State.
It could jump North Carolina if the Tar Heels lose to Clemson in the ACC Championship game, but would need the committee to reconsider its reasoning to surpass Florida State, Notre Dame, and either TCU or Baylor.
The College Football Playoff Committee released their next to last rankings today and Alabama is at the number two spot.
Ohio State’s best shot comes if Stanford and either Clemson or Alabama lose.
Oklahoma already has clinched the Big 12 title and appears to have locked up a playoff spot. The 9-2 Bears are an impressive win on Oklahoma’s resume, but a loss would take it down a notch. According to committee chair Jeff Long, this week had some of the most intense debates yet.
Path to the Playoff: With Stanford knocking out Notre Dame, the Buckeyes stay in the outer fringes of the Playoff conversation as a second potential Big Ten entrant.
Now we’re two Saturday night games and one Sunday morning vote from an even bigger showdown.
Two of North Carolina’s wins came against FCS opponents, and the Tar Heels also have a loss against a team that fell to The Citadel, South Carolina.
All of which could make for a boring announcement day Sunday … unless the unexpected happens.
Because of geography, proximity and fan interest, the Fiesta Bowl would probably see a marquee matchup of No. 8 Notre Dame against No. 6 Ohio State.
Long also said the committee deliberated extensively this week about whether to swap Clemson at Alabama at the top, but the fact that Alabama has not played a team in the committee’s top 10 kept the Tigers at No. 1.
Advertisement
Clemson retained the top spot this week and Alabama is second. So although these weekly rankings provide insight into the committee’s thinking, they’re still glorified mock drafts, especially until the committee places weight on conference titles. First, they have 2 losses and them, and if Iowa and Clemson lose, then 4 teams would have 1 loss that I’d be jumping them over.
