The No. 1 team is supposed to get the biggest favor, and if Clemson wins its conference title game and retains the spot, Miami – site of the other semifinal, being significantly closer to Clemson, S.C. than the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – should be the Tigers’ destination.
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Iowa is No. 4 and Michigan State is No. 5, setting up a playoff play-in game in Saturday’s Big Ten title game.
For instance, Oklahoma won the Big 12 championship last week, yet it’s still No. 3 behind two teams (Clemson and Alabama) that aren’t conference champions yet.
What will be interesting if Clemson and Alabama both win will be if the victor of the Big Ten title game could jump No. 3 Oklahoma in the final rankings released Sunday. Michigan State, at No. 5, can play their way in with a win over Iowa Saturday night in Indianapolis.
The Buckeyes big win in MI helped them move up in this week’s rankings.
Stanford also may be able to slip into the playoff if it beats USC in the Pac-12 title game to finish 10-2.
Oklahoma State and MI fell out of the top 10 after their losses.
With pivotal conference championship games looming, there were no changes at the top of this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
The conference championship games are coming up this Saturday and it’s a foregone conclusion that the remaining three slots are coming out of the Big Ten, ACC and SEC.
The CFP selection committee reevaluates the teams each week, and Long said games at the start of the season are ideally weighted equal to games at the end of the season.
“The committee debated long and hard about the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams”, Long said.
The final ranking and pairings will be announced Sunday. TCU (10-2), 12. Baylor (9-2), 13. The Gators dropped to No. 18 after losing 27-2 to Florida State and an upset will almost certainly reflect poorly on the Crimson Tide, even though ‘Bama nearly moved into the top spot this week. That reflects the Tar Heels’ disrespected schedule with its whopping two teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, North Carolina A&T and Delaware. Michigan State is No. 5. What’s clear is the committee still has deep reservations about the Tar Heels, who aren’t even the ACC’s second-highest ranked team.
Committee chairman Jeff Long said most of the committee debate was over Clemson-Alabama at Nos.
For Clemson, it is pretty simple: win and they’re in.
The Texas Longhorns, the only team to beat Oklahoma this season, could hurt the Sooners again if they beat the Baylor Bears this weekend. They look to be a playoff lock.
Alabama is in the same position as Clemson. Otherwise, lose to Auburn, beat Florida to become the SEC champs, and hope for a few undefeated or 1-loss teams to fall. The Sooners made one final impression on the CFP committee with a 58-23 rout of No. 17 Oklahoma State (10-2).
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North Carolina lost to 3-9 SC on opening night and two of its victories are over North Carolina A&T and Delaware.
