College Football Playoff Rankings: Oklahoma, Iowa in; Ohio State, Notre Dame out

The College Football Playoff Rankings are out and Oklahoma and Iowa are in and Ohio State and Notre Dame are out.

Last week’s College Football Playoff rankings saw zero changes in the top four with Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame remaining in the 1-2-3-4 spots, respectively, but this week featured a number of changes.

Clemson and Alabama were assured of staying in the top two, but the biggest change was the Ohio State Buckeyes dropping from the No. 3 spot after losing to the Michigan State Spartans on a field goal as time expired.

We knew Ohio State would fall out of the top four, but we didn’t know if it would be Michigan State or the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes replacing them in the top four.

Secondly, we weren’t entirely sure if the Notre Dame Fighting Irish would hold on to the No. 4 spot after a three-point win against Boston College when they committed five turnovers. Would the playoff committee be swayed to include the Oklahoma Sooners who are coming off back-to-back wins against Baylor and TCU?

Yes, they would.

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Clemson and Alabama are No. 1 and No. 2 as we all thought, but the Sooners came in at No. 3. If they win in Bedlam next week at Oklahoma State, they’re in the playoff.

Iowa moves up from No. 5 to No. 4, replacing Notre Dame who drops to No. 6, behind Michigan State.

1. The winner of the Big Ten Championship Game provided it’s an undefeated team vs. a 1-loss Michigan State team, will be in the playoff. So the four-team playoff will be set with Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa winning out. There isn’t a team that can jump that foursome if they win out.

2. Notre Dame won on Saturday but they lost today by sliding to No. 6. They have Stanford in their season finale but a win against that team will be tough to move ahead of Michigan State who plays No. 3 Iowa in the potential Big Ten Championship Game, so their win over a No. 8 Stanford wouldn’t be better than a win from Michigan State over No. 3 Iowa in a Championship Game, something Notre Dame doesn’t have. They would Oklahoma to lose too for a shot.

3. Baylor sitting at No. 7 is hanging by a thread after their win against Oklahoma State on Saturday. The Pokes dropped from No. 6 to No. 11 after that loss while the Bears hang around in the event Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State in Bedlam.

4. Stanford at No. 8 is still alive with a game against Notre Dame and a Pac-12 Championship game against the winner of the USC-UCLA game after that. If they win out and some craziness happens ahead of them in the final two weeks, the Cardinal could be the last one standing and sneak in with two losses.

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5. Ohio State is dead. The Buckeyes came in at No. 8 and while still they have a shot at the Big Ten Championship Game if Michigan State loses, they need to beat Michigan first, then have Penn State beat Michigan State, then beat an undefeated Iowa team in the Big Ten Championship Game. Then they would need Stanford to beat Notre Dame, but lose in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Then they would need Oklahoma State to beat Oklahoma and Baylor to lose once more to either TCU or Texas. If all that happens, then the Buckeyes have a shot at a repeat.