Stanford climbed two more spots in the playoff rankings to number nine, behind a cluster of teams from the Big 10 and Big 12 among others. Jason Kirk and Pete Volk of SB Nation had this to say about the latest rankings:
"This Saturday's Notre Dame vs. Stanford isn't quite a qualifier, but it is an eliminator. The winner will join the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State Bedlam winner (OU's the big winner of the week, vaulting all the way from No. 7 after beating TCU and maybe even putting itself in the top group) and possibly Baylor in the holding pen; the Bears and Cardinal would also have games during conference championship weekend (and Stanford would have a real chance to impress against USC or UCLA), but the others in this group would be sitting and waiting."
Notre Dame dropped to number 6 from number 4 after a poor showing against Boston College. Northwestern leaped from number 20 last week to number 16 this week. Right behind Northwestern at 16 was the other team to beat the Cardinal as Oregon jumped from number 23 to number 17 after defeating USC 48-28. The Washington State Cougars moved into the rankings all the way to number 20. UCLA was not ranked last week either but moved into the 22nd spot after defeating Utah (who dropped ten spots to number 23).
The Full rankings are below.
Comments
Oh boy ND is going to come in pissed
If they get a slight advantage they might go for style points on this one. Need to rip their hearts out early
By layman on 11.24.15 6:11pm
yeah, but their offense is explosive
Clemson went up big on them early and Notre Dame came back. Would have taken them to overtime too if not for a poorly drawn up two-point conversion botch. We’ll need to keep the pressure on them for a full 60 minutes, and capitalize on their turnovers.
By nickdempsey on 11.24.15 6:18pm
I very much thought Stanford was out of it
Since the Big12 was guaranteed a 1loss champ after the weekend, but I’m completely surprised at how Stanford is higher than Oklahoma State. That kind of makes it a possibility that Stanford would jump even a 1loss Oklahoma State champ for that last spot.
By John Nguyen on 11.24.15 6:11pm
Yeah, the committee is high on Oklahoma
but generally down on the Big 12 as a whole. Which sets up all kinds of interesting scenarios should oklahoma lose this week.
By nickdempsey on 11.24.15 6:16pm
I think Baylor may also still be in it
But man if Stanford wins out and Oklahoma loses….
Gotta worry about actually winning though haha
By John Nguyen on 11.24.15 8:40pm
Very, very true
All of this is just speculation if we don’t actually beat Notre Dame, but we can say that one way or another there are going to be plenty of shakeups in the top 15 over the next couple of weeks.
By nickdempsey on 11.24.15 8:52pm
Baylor's poor SOS will doom them in the end.
By Cardinal-in-TX on 11.24.15 9:35pm
Think this is our most likely scenario....
Under that scenario, the current #11 beats the current #3, and the current #9 beats the current #6…. would be really weird if the committee jumped the Big-12 team on top of Stanford in that case. Baylor is definitely the trouble-maker in this scenario… need them to lose also (they still have TCU and Texas).
Unless both Michigan State loses to PSU AND Michigan beats OSU… there will be a Big-10 team in there (and even in this scenario, the Iowa/Michigan winner might go).
If Florida beats Alabama, does a #12 team jump all the way into the top 4? Or if #14 UNC beats Clemson?
Ok, basically we need either #11 to beat #3, #12 to beat #2, or #14 to beat #1…. what are the chances of one of those happening?
By HailStanfordHail on 11.25.15 10:54am
I think style pts matter a lot
Having a highlight reel machine in Mcaffrey is really helping Stanford in this case
By layman on 11.24.15 6:19pm
That is true to a certain extent
But I think they also like the depth of the Pac 12 as well. The SEC west might be the best division in college football, but the Pac-12 conference is probably the most competitive. Up until about 3 days ago literally half of the teams in the Pac-12 Had a shot to win the conference. Stanford also lost to 2 teams in the top 20, and one of them is playing well enough to compete with just about anyone in the country.
By nickdempsey on 11.24.15 6:23pm
Stanford is a good team...
And the Pac-12 as a whole a good conference. Stanford has played 7 teams that are already bowl eligible, and one more that could get there this weekend, plus Notre Dame that certainly will be also. So to end the season, they will have played 8 teams, but possibly 9, out of a 12 game schedule, that are bowl eligible. Throw in the CCG, and that number climbs to 10 out of 13 bowl eligible teams they will have had to defeat! That is insane. If they can win out, their SOS is sick. I really don’t see how many other contenders could claim better.
By drkato9 on 11.24.15 10:03pm
I think that is why the committee
has them at the head of the 2-loss pack and ahead of several 1 loss teams.
By nickdempsey on 11.25.15 12:32am
Does OKST jump to #4 if they beat Sooners? And NDAM loses?
Looks like the 3rd spot is either MIST or IOWA winner unless PNST does everyone a big favor in Sparty, and then MIST takes out IOWA. (Turns out the crazy punt-spin-six miracle ending in Ann Arbor mattered )
By ADPATERSON on 11.25.15 7:52am
Stanford should be #6
Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Baylor have no business being ranked that high.
If Stanford played their schedule they’d be 10-1 at worst (and probably 11-0 with Baylor or Oklahoma). If any of those teams played Stanford’s schedule I think 9-2 would be a stretch.
If the committee actually values SOS like they say they do, they sure have a funny way of showing it.
That being said, Stanford needs to win out or all this discussion is kind of a moot point. LET’S GO BOYS
By winflop on 11.25.15 2:02pm