Playoff Projection portends huge impact of MI

The College Football Playoff rankings will be released once more Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 5 p.m., with the final rankings of the season being released on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. on ESPN. Each team has two “quality” losses: Colorado to MI and USC on the road, versus Oklahoma’s home loss to Ohio State and neutral-site loss to Houston. But does Oklahoma State deserve to be ranked with the two-loss teams at all, especially fifth among those teams? Unbeaten Alabama (10-0) remained No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson. Washington is No. 5.

Rounding out the top 10 behind UW are Penn State, Oklahoma, Colorado and Oklahoma State.

“The (Huskies’) strength of schedule is still in question”, Hocutt said. Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson have one loss each.

However, the only CFP rankings that matter are the ones that will be released December 4, after all the conference championship games are played.

The first go around between the two last season, the Buckeyes went into the Big House and embarrassed the Wolverines 42-13. I believe, that especially if Ohio State’s only loss is to a conference champion Penn State, that they should be in it.

Nebraska needs a Wisconsin loss, and will have to get past Iowa with its top two quarterbacks injured and potentially unable to play.

Penn State’s special teams captain suffered a knee injury right before halftime on Saturday at Rutgers, needing the help of Franklin and head trainer Tim Bream just to get off the field. Missing out on a key goal would make the season as a whole a disappointment, multiple players said Tuesday night.

Ohio State: H-B Curtis Samuel. There is room for a fourth team, and if Washington beats No. 23 Washington State (8-3) on the road and then wins the Pac-12 championship game, in all likelihood, count the Huskies in.

The second scenario involves a MI win, and results in a much clearer and uncontroversial top four. If Ohio State beats MI but doesn’t advance, the Buckeyes would probably stay in the field to give the league two bids, but there’s no guarantee of that.

Kirby Hocutt: “Oklahoma State’s record is 9-2″. Washington doesn’t exactly control its own destiny, but it figures to be in good shape if it goes 12-1. The safest seems to be Ohio State, but even some argue that they don’t belong in unless they win a conference championship. Washington’s best wins would be over No. 9 Colorado and No. 22 Utah. In this case, it would be No. 7 Penn State.

“He’s the one that kind of spoke to the team after the win last week“, Franklin said. Their two close losses are against Ohio State and MI, two teams that are fully entrenched in the CFP mix.

But if Washington doesn’t lose again, there will be a lot of nerves for both programs leading into the final CFP selections.