College Football Playoff Rankings: Notre Dame out, Oklahoma a lock?

The College Football Playoff picture gained some clarity after Rivalry Week but there is still time for some crazy things to throw a wrench in the four-team postseason picture.

Rivalry Week had the potential to disrupt the playoff picture with Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma playing their bitter rival and No. 4 Iowa playing a Nebraska team with nothing to lose in a lost season for the Huskers.

All four teams prevailed, but Clemson only won by five against South Carolina, but that close win shouldn’t be enough to drop them from the top spot in Tuesday’s playoff ranking show. Deshaun Watson and the Tigers will face North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game and if they win, they’re in.

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.

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They’ll play the Florida Gators who lost to the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday night, in the SEC Championship Game and will likely be double-digit favorites. Barring a total collapse, Nick Saban’s team will be the only team from last year’s playoff to return this year.

The bottom half of the bracket featured four-five teams fighting for the last two spots but after No. 3 Oklahoma boat raced the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 58-23 in Bedlam, Bob Stoops’ team likely punched their ticket to the playoff with their season over.

After Stanford beat Notre Dame to eliminate the Fighting Irish and Michigan State beat Penn State to eliminate Ohio State that leaves the two-loss Cardinal and the one-loss Spartans as the two teams on the outside looking in, because the Iowa Hawkeyes will remain in the No. 4 spot with their undefeated record.

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Say what you will about Iowa’s record and the opponents they’ve played, just make sure you mention that they beat every team they played to this point. If they beat Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game they’ll be in and if the Spartans beat Iowa, then they’ll be in. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.