The conference championship games are the final piece of the puzzle, though, and could still change the picture. And then you look at our two losses: If my numbers are correct, is that 21-3, the (win-loss record of the) two teams that we lost to?
Advertisement
Overall, the college football landscape is pretty self-explanatory at this point. But sometimes, less is more. All have serious enough faults to preclude them from playing for the national title. Do that, and Clemson will be no worse than the No. 2 seed in the Playoff. More on that later.
But winning is hard and usually if a weak schedule is the best thing a team has going for it that team will find a way to lose to someone of that weak schedule. Glad you asked. Here, we present the teams with the best shot at raising the title trophy in January and a few that will be left on the outside. Michigan State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Florida all have one loss. Alabama and Clemson seem to be the two best teams in the country by a wide margin. In the ACC, the Clemson Tigers will face the North Carolina Tarheels. Clemson (12-0, 8-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed, led much of the game by double digits and outgained SC by more than 100 yards.
Path to the Playoff: Beat No. 13 Florida State today and Alabama in the SEC championship.
The No. 2 Crimson Tide traded field goals with the Auburn Tigers in the first half before giving it to Derrick Henry 46 times and 271 yards to put the game away in the Iron Bowl.
North Carolina beat N.C. State 45-34 on Saturday to move to 11-1 – its only loss was to SC in Week 1 – and the Tar Heels can pose a threat to Clemson. That will tie Wisconsin for most appearances in the Big Ten title game, which was first played between the Spartans and Badgers in 2011.
The Hawkeyes completed a flawless regular season at 12-0 with a win over Nebraska on Friday, while the Spartans improved to 11-1 and clinched a Big Ten East Division championship with a throttling of Penn State on Saturday.
The Pac-12 will announce the all-conference teams and award winners Tuesday, with the former at noon and the latter at 6 p.m. on the Pac12Nets.
The Ohio State that was ranked No. 1 in the preseason finally showed up again in Ann Arbor on Saturday, as Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes crushed Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines 42-13. The Big Ten has too much clout, and Michigan State’s resume would be too strong. They played against a very good Florida State team, had the ball in the red zone a couple of times and didn’t score or that game would have gone right down to the wire. The Sooners are bound for the final four. How about Ohio State? Even if the Cats end up higher than Baylor or TCU in the final ranking, one of those teams will get pulled into the Sugar Bowl.
Iowa moved down a spot to No. 4, but Michigan State moved up a spot to No. 5 and Ohio State jumped two spots to No. 6, giving the Big Ten three of the top six spots in the top-25 rankings, which were released Sunday afternoon.
The Buzz: Don’t be fooled in thinking this rivalry game lost some luster after Ohio State’s loss to.
Advertisement
Even with that, the Tar Heels might need Notre Dame to lose to Stanford, Oklahoma to lose Bedlam and Stanford to lose the Pac-12 championship in order to be considered for a berth. Unless something absolutely insane happens inside the College Football Playoff committee world, thanks to Stanford’s thriller over Notre Dame, No. 3 – all rankings based on the November 24 CFP rankings – Oklahoma is in after ending its regular season with a dominant win over Oklahoma State to become the Big 12’s One True Champion. A loss to Texas A&M would give LSU at least four losses for the second consecutive season. Just keep a one-loss ND team out of the conversation. A win would be the ideal way to send out Dak Prescott, one of the most productive quarterbacks in the SEC this season.
