Help needed: Nothing has changed for Clemson. Iowa beat Pitt at home by 3 and the Fighting Irish won at Pitt by 12 (and the game wasn’t even that close).
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Alabama: The Crimson Tide might have the nation’s top defense. In a win against Wake Forest, Adams took a hand off 98 yards to the house, setting a Notre Dame record for its longest touchdown run in school history.
“In our view, Oklahoma is better than Iowa”, said committee Chairman Jeff Long, Arkansas’ athletic director.
Help needed: The Sooners appear to be a lock with a win at Bedlam on Saturday, but they might need some style points to feel secure.
Last season, Texas Christian was third in the second-to-last playoff rankings and slipped to sixth in the final rankings, behind Ohio State and Baylor. The final one will occur on December 6 and determine which teams play in the national semifinals. Notre Dame had five turnovers last week against Boston College, the same amount as in the previous five games combined….
The Sooners (10-1) seem to be in solid shape with only one game remaining in their season. But if Michigan State loses to Penn State, the Ohio State-Michigan victor will get its own shot at the Hawkeyes. Again, unless Notre Dame posts a monstrous blowout of Stanford, jumping the Big Ten champ looks very hard. If both win, that sets up a Big Ten championship game with unbeaten Iowa against Michigan State at 11-1.
If No. 3 Oklahoma loses to No. 11 Oklahoma State…
Iowa has clinched the West and will be in Indy, but if the Hawkeyes lose to Nebraska and then beat Michigan State, the Big Ten might be in trouble.
Sorry, Iowa fans. You had a good year – but not that good. The Pac-12 cannibalized itself weeks before the Big-12’s dodge ball elimination tournament started adding L’s to everyone’s ledger. Both teams here are still alive in the Playoff hunt, although Stanford is only hanging on by a thread with two losses. The Irish could gain ground this week, however, because they face No. 9-ranked Stanford on the Cardinal’s home field. After beating now-No. 11 Oklahoma State on the road, Baylor could make some massive noise even through it’s down to the third-string quarterback. Like I said before, there are eleven undefeated or one-loss Power 5 teams, meaning now seven of those teams won’t get into the Playoff. Also, unlike Ohio State, Michigan does have one Top 20 win already, 38-0 over No. 16 Northwestern. That’s the biggest obstacle, but far from the only one. The Fighting Irish are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 meetings in Stanford.
Can Baylor get back into it? There are only two other entries from the SEC in this week’s rankings with in-state foes Ole Miss at No. 18 and Mississippi State at No. 21. I will also say that looking at something summarized generally like this insulates the bad results. On Tuesday night, Florida (10-1), following an overtime scare against C-USA foe FAU, dropped from eighth to 12, leaving the SEC with just one Top 10 team and two Top 15. But the possibility exists that the Gators are ranked so low that if they defeat Florida State to end the season and somehow beat Alabama in the SEC title game that the mighty Southeastern Conference is left out entirely. Neither is Wisconsin, which Bama beat in the season opener. Stanford all but ended the conference’s hopes of a playoff berth with its 38-36 loss to OR two weeks ago.
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No. 1 Clemson at South Carolina: South Carolina has fallen apart. It marks the fourth consecutive week that Clemson has been ranked first in the poll that will determine the four teams who will compete in the second College Football Playoff. The season-opening loss to SC looms large.
