2015 College Football Playoff Selection Committee Rankings Week 5, Sooners Could Get Favorable Bowl Draw
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Nothing changed with the College Football Playoff Selection Committee rankings in Week 5 after Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Iowa all held up their end of the bargain for one more week. Some shuffling could still be had during Championship Week if the top draws are upset. Perhaps the biggest cemented spot, at least for now, is Oklahoma and where the Sooners could end up playing if the top four stays put when Week 14 of the season is completed.
The finicky selection committee, for some reason, did not mind that the No. 1 team in the land, Clemson, struggled to a five point win over a 3-win South Carolina team. In weeks past, and with every other team in the nation, that would have been a demotion of some kind. Clemson will get a test against ACC Coastal Division winner North Carolina, ranked No. 10 in the latest rankings, on Saturday.
Alabama won the Iron Bowl notching a 29-13 win against bitter in-state rival Auburn on the road. The Crimson Tide draw SEC East Division winner Florida in Atlanta. The Gators are coming off an offensive letdown against their own in-state rival, FSU, falling 27-2. The Gators fell from No. 12 to No. 18 putting them far out of reach of being able to make the playoffs should an upset over Bama happen.
Iowa had already earned their way into the Big Ten Championship Game but found out their opponent for the right to play in the playoffs on Saturday. Michigan State held off any chance of Ohio State jumping back into the mix after the Spartans downed Penn State 55-16. The Hawkeyes beat the one team that upset MSU this season, topping Nebraska 28-20 on the road.
The Sooners got a nice paper win over then playoff ranked No. 11 Oklahoma State embarrassing their in-state rivals in the Bedlam series 58-23. Oklahoma’s season is done and appear safe and sound in the Top Four.
Ohio State is the only team that appears to be able to sneak back into the Final Four to defend their 2014 championship should Clemson or Alabama falter. Either Iowa or Michigan State are in the tournament pending the outcome of the Big Ten Championship Game.
Newly ranked No. 7 Stanford would need a couple of dominoes to fall, being both Clemson and Alabama losing, to get back into the mix coupled with a Pac-12 Championship win over No. 20 USC. The same goes for No. 8 Notre Dame, who lost to the Cardinal 38-36 over the weekend.
Who Goes Where
The college football playoff sites are predetermined with the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl hosting the semifinal rounds this year on Dec. 31. The National Championship Game is in Glendale on Jan. 11. How the committee seeds the playoffs are starting to become of interest. If Oklahoma ends up in the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners play a defacto home game in Dallas some three hours away from Norman with a rabid fan base in the area. No other team currently in the mix would get as soft a cushion.
Jeff Long, the University of Arkansas athletic director and head of the playoff selection committee, said the group would not reseed the top four to keep Oklahoma from playing in Dallas, but will they try to get a TV friendly pairing in the championship game by mixing and matching the final teams? Would a Clemson vs. Iowa/Michigan State be as big of a first round draw as Clemson vs. Oklahoma? Which team do the fans want to see play for the national championship?
Any mixing and matching will come under great scrutiny if a reshuffling occurs without any merit.
The final selection committee rankings are scheduled to be posted Sunday at noon ET.
Week 5 College Football Playoff Committee Rankings
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Iowa
- Michigan State
- Ohio State
- Stanford
- Notre Dame
- Florida State
- North Carolina
- TCU
- Baylor
- Ole Miss
- Northwestern
- Michigan
- Oregon
- Oklahoma State
- Florida
- Houston
- USC
- LSU
- Temple
- Navy
- Utah
- Tennessee
Photo credit: Al Goldis; Michigan State celebrates winning the Big Ten East Division.