College Football Playoff Rankings: Notre Dame holds off Iowa, Oklahoma State

The third release of the College Football Playoff rankings are out and here’s the five most important takeaways.

The four teams are the same as last week as Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame remain in the College Football Playoff top four. Iowa and Oklahoma State were the next two teams in. But the bigger story may be the Pac-12 who is unofficially officially eliminated after Stanford and Utah lost and fell to No. 11 and No. 13, respectively.

With the Pac-12 teams eliminated, the focus turned to the Big 12 where the Oklahoma Sooners had an impressive win at the previously undefeated Baylor Bears. The Big 12 was shutout of the first playoff last year but stand a great chance to get in the second time around with the Sooners at No. 7 one spot behind their in-state rivals.

It would seem the No. 4 spot is the only spot up for grabs with Clemson, Alabama Ohio State perceived locks to make the playoff. Crazy things have happened, but the betting money is on those three teams making it in. Here’s the biggest takeaways from the third unveiling of the playoff rankings.

Win And You’re In

The top four stayed the same as last week, which was the first time since the last week in 2013 that there were no changes among the top four teams. In fact, Iowa stayed at No. 5 and Oklahoma State is lurking at No. 6. If Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State/Iowa and Oklahoma State win out that is your College Football Playoff.

Related: SEC Power Rankings: Week 11

Notre Dame Losing Momentum

Notre Dame stayed at No. 4, but they lost when they saw Stanford lose to the Oregon Ducks on Saturday night and they dropped to No. 11. Brian Kelly’s team needed Stanford to be a one-loss team when the two meet to serve as a default play-in game since Notre Dame doesn’t have a conference championship to boost their resume. A win over a two-loss No. 11 Stanford wouldn’t be viewed as a prestigious win. Further, Notre Dame’s win over Temple isn’t as prestigious after the Owls lost to South Florida in blowout fashion. They can win out and not stay in the top four, even though committee chairman Jeff Long said Notre Dame was a solid No. 4.

Oklahoma Can Be This Year’s Ohio State

Oklahoma came in at No. 7 and could be added to the ‘win and you’re in’ section above, but it’s not a certainty like the other four teams, so they get their own category here. Oklahoma has TCU and Oklahoma State left on the schedule and while the Horned Frogs have fallen off the pace and Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson are questionable for this weekend’s game, the Sooners stand to benefit with this backloaded schedule.

More from Saturday Blitz

• Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
• ACC Power Rankings: Can #4 FSU overthrow Clemson at Death Valley East?
• Most heartwarming social media reactions to Nick Chubb’s injury
• Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
• Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars

The Sooners suffered a stunning loss to the Texas Longhorns early in the year, just like Ohio State did last year vs. Virginia Tech, but the Buckeyes peaked late in the year to get into the playoff and a similar storyline could be taking place this year in Norman.

Chaos Theory

If you’re rooting for anarchy in the final weeks of the season, you’ll want to see North Carolina beat Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, Ohio State lose to Michigan State, Michigan or Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, Florida beating Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Oklahoma State to lose to Baylor but then beat Oklahoma and Notre Dame rout Stanford. At least one of these is going to happen, if not two, right?