Now Notre Dame is looking up at the Sooners, and while the Irish have Stanford, their biggest statement game of the season, OU has Bedlam in Stillwater, a statement game no less potent. The interesting twist here is that since Oklahoma is everyone’s favorite team right now, does that mean if the Cowboys pull off the upset that they will be in the final four? Assuming that Clemson and Alabama win out (again, which is very likely), that leaves one spot open. Johnson feared that a win over 8-1-2 and No. 8 Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl would not be viewed as favorably by voters, so he began his campaign.
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It’s not Notre Dame nor is it Iowa that Oklahoma needs to concern itself with at the moment.
The road to Big Ten elite status goes through the 5-6 Hoosiers. But without a conference championship game, the Spartans could probably do the same like when Ohio State jumped Baylor and TCU past year. Notre Dame also fell from No. 4 to No. 6 after the Irish slipped past a three-win Boston College team, 19-16. Then if Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma. The SEC and Big XII have four teams each and the ACC has three.
Let’s end as always with the nuclear option, which this week leaves the college football landscape with just two one-loss Power 5 teams and no undefeated teams.
The CFP committee will release another updated set of rankings December 1 before revealing the final and most important picks December 6 at noon on ESPN. And Michigan State takes down Iowa in the Big Ten title game. The Spartans were one spot ahead of Mississippi State heading into Championship Week and both teams were left out of their respective conference title matches.
Iowa will play their last game before the Big Ten Championship game Friday night against Nebraska in Lincoln.
Alabama, ranked second, has a challenge this weekend at Auburn in the famed Iron Bowl.
New England Patriots at Denver Broncos (5:20 p.m., NBC (3)): This matchup could’ve featured two unbeaten teams renewing one of the best quarterback rivalries in National Football League history. “It was more about the performance of Oklahoma and Michigan State against top-ranked teams”.
Notre Dame (10-1) also plays its last game of the season Saturday, a possible résumé-builder against Stanford, which is ninth in the rankings. It appears the Pac 12 will be this year’s omission, unless 9-2 Stanford can beat Notre Dame and sneak in by virtue of other top 10 teams losing in the next two weeks.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide is the only SEC team represented in the top 10. The game wasn’t as close as the final score may indicate, but it wasn’t enough to merit keeping the Irish above the likes of Iowa, Oklahoma and Michigan State. Notre Dame (10-1, Independent) 7. But look where Iowa (with a loss) and Ohio State is polling. Stanford (9-2), 10. MI (9-2), 11. Do you really MI to try backdoor their way into the Big Ten Championship like they did in the Sugar Bowl during Brady Hoke’s first year? Oklahoma State (10-1, Big XII) 12. If Clemson can keep North Carolina’s only signature win against Pitt, there’s no way Michigan State’s remaining schedule will allow the Tar Heels to jump them. They have performed at a high level since then, so they’ve overcome that loss with their play on the field and the success they’ve had and the wins they’ve accumulated, with now six wins over teams with. In college football, remember when we thought Alabama was done in September when they lost to Ole Miss? MS (8-3, SEC) 19.
