College Football Playoff Landscape Starting to Take Shape
The second installment of the 2015 College Football Playoff rankings came out recently and the battle for the top 4 spots is starting to take shape. With a fairly convincing win over #16 Florida State, the Clemson Tigers retain their #1 ranking. The Alabama Crimson Tide catapulted all the way to #2 this week with an impressive win over then #2 LSU. This has many Ohio State Buckeye fans upset as the undefeated Buckeyes sit behind the 8-1 Crimson Tide. While rankings this early are rather silly to worry about, the fact a 1-loss SEC team is ranked ahead of an undefeated Big 10 team is cause for discussion. The current rankings seem to indicate that OSU would need to win out in order to secure a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
Also moving up this week were the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Fighting Irish are sitting pretty with their only loss coming at the hands of top ranked Clemson. This ranking pretty much assures them a spot in the playoffs if they can win out with only #7 Stanford standing in the way in the season finale. The undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes jumped up 4 spots despite just squeaking by the Indiana Hoosiers. Although, they are on the outside looking in, a loss by any of the higher ranked teams and the Haweyes immediately jump up into contention. Other big movers include the Stanford Cardinal (up 4 spots) and the Oklahoma State Cowboys (up 6 spots).
Currently, only 6 teams remain undefeated: Clemson (9-0), Ohio State (9-0), Iowa (9-0), Baylor (8-0), Oklahoma State (9-0) and the Houston Cougars (9-0). Here are the complete Top 25 Rankings as selected by the selection committee. The top 4 teams play in the national semifinals which this year will be the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl.
Week 10, Top 25
25. Wisconsin
24. Houston
23. North Carolina
22. Temple
21. Memphis
20. Navy
19. UCLA
18. Northwestern
17. Mississippi State
16. Florida State
15. TCU
14. Michigan
13. Michigan State
12. Oklahoma
11. Florida
10. Utah
9. LSU
8. Oklahoma State
7. Stanford
6. Baylor
5. Iowa
4. Notre Dame
3. Ohio State
2. Alabama
1. Clemson
