NCAAF College Football Scores - Week 13

NCAAF College Football Scores - Week 13

#1 Clemson won and will play North Carolina for the ACC championship.

#2 Alabama also won and will play Florida for the SEC championship

#3 Oklahoma won by a mile (58-23) and is the Big 12 champ. Chances are they are in the final four.

#4 Iowa won and will play #5 Michigan State for the Big Ten crown. Michigan State won 55-16 and will probably be heavily favored in the conference championship game.

#6 Notre Dame and #7 Baylor each lost and must be out of the playoff picture.

If Clemson and Alabama win their conferences, the final four should include those two plus Oklahoma and the winner of the Big 10 championship game. The bride left on the altar would be the Pac-12 champ, which will probably be Stanford. If either Clemson or Alabama loses, the picture will be very hazy because their opponents (North Carolina and Florida) aren't really strong enough to make the elite group.

A Clemson or Alabama loss would give Stanford a route back in if they win the Pac-12 crown, because they will be #6 or #7 after defeating Notre Dame this weekend. Stanford will also have a chance if Iowa loses. If Iowa wins and remains undefeated, it would be impossible for the committee to exclude an undefeated Big 10 champion from the Final Four, but if the choice comes down to Michigan State or Stanford, the committee may well decide that Stanford is stronger. That's still a big "if" because Stanford still has to get past USC for the second time this year. (They won the first one 41-31.) USC may have four losses, but they are extremely dangerous.

Sagarin's computer rankings place Clemson, Alabama and Oklahoma in the Colossal Cuatro, but include Ohio State as the fourth. That group may well be the four strongest teams in the country, but I don't see any chance for Ohio State to get in since the Big 10 champion would be ahead of them in line. I guess it could happen if chaos reigns next week: if Alabama or Clemson falters and Stanford also loses. OSU's loss to Michigan State was costly for them and the conference, since the computers place Michigan State and Iowa (the two teams actually vying for the Big 10 conference crown) #11 and #14 in the nation, which really leaves the Big 10 without a suitable standard bearer in the Big Joust.

As it stands at this moment, the most anticipated post-season game would be the #2-#3 game between Oklahoma and Alabama, even though the #1-#4 game could conceivably be a battle of undefeateds (Clemson and Iowa, if they each win next week).