Here is the strangest part about Saturday’s final push toward the College Football Playoff: the only lock among the four currently atop the ranking isn’t either of the two unbeaten teams, nor the one that recently defeated defending national champion Ohio State. The lock is the team that lost to seven-loss Texas. Oklahoma is the team sipping an umbrella drink while everyone else scrambles for the final three semifinal spots. The Sooners represent the Big 12 Conference, the same league that botched last year’s finish because, lacking a conference title game, it declared Texas Christian and Baylor co-champions. This is why you always use a pencil, not a pen, to predict college football seasons. They are like snowflakes; no two are the same. Last year, Texas Christian was third in the next-to-last ranking, then blasted Iowa State, 55-3, in its final game — and dropped to No. 6 in the final ranking. The Horned Frogs’ only loss was by three points, on the road, against Baylor, another top-10 team. Yet, this year, third-ranked Oklahoma has almost zero chance of missing the playoff, even though the Sooners own the worst loss of any team in the top eight. The selection committee, in its final regular-season release Tuesday, all but spelled out how things were going to play out. …
Continue Reading: College Football Playoff power rankings going into conference title games
