Jin Delaney is going to screw over a division winner.

Jim Delaney has gone on record as saying he will pick the highest ranked team from his conference to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.  This is almost guaranteed to be OSU.

OSU will move up some on Tuesday by virtue of teams ahead of them in the polls losing and by virtue of destroying UM in the Big House.  I get that.  But they will move up again after being idle, simply because they can't lose next weekend.  They can't lose because they weren't good enough to win their division and earn a trip to Indy.  This should not be rewarded.

They should treated as an 11-2 team for purposes of a choosing a Rose Bowl team.  They should be given this loss since they weren't able to even play in a game that either Iowa or MSU will lose.  This way if Iowa wins, you treat OSU and MSU as 11-2 and put MSU in by virtue of beating the Buckeyes in Columbus.  If MSU wins in Indy you would have 12-1 Iowa and 11-2 OSU to compare.

I might be making too big of a deal about this, since the conference championship game loser probably gets a New Years Six game.

Projections for CFP rankings week 13

Great week for Spartans athletics in general, with the win over Kansas for the basketball team leading to a number three ranking in the AP poll, and of course MSU football literally destroying the Buckeyes, causing the players to lose confidence in the coaches play calling.

MSU more than doubled the Buckeyes in yardage from scrimmage and more than tripled then in first downs.  Even had Geiger missed the kick, MSU likely wins in overtime.


Now on to the projections.

1. Clemson

Clemson stays undefeated, and will stay at number one.  The committee needs Clemson to stay at number one to have a reason to  keep Notre Dame alive.  Notre Dame travels well and would be guaranteed ratings.

2. Alabama

Alabama made it through their bye week, crushing their FCS competition.  Alabama won't make the the number one spot, but they were dominant enough to stay at number two.

3. Iowa

This is the week Iowa makes the top 4.  With only two undefeated teams left, the committee can no longer keep the Hawkeyes out of the top 4.  I think they jump Notre Dame, since the Irish struggled with BC.

4. Notre Dame

The Irish stay in the top 4 virtue of their quality loss to Clemson and overall schedule.  They don't move up due to the BC game being close.

5 Michigan State

The Spartans have the best win in FBS after defeating OSU and move right back into contention.  Win out and Sparty is assured of a place in the playoff.

Sorry, Drew Sharp, you were wrong again

Not quite two weeks ago Drew Sharp wrote an article HERE about Michigan State having no chance to make the College Football Playoff.  Mr. Sharp wrote the article on the heels of the Nebraska loss.  We all remember it.  A Nebraska team better than their record showed as they have several close losses this year, playing in Lincoln and getting some help from a clearly confused officiating crew.

Clearly Drew forgot that last year there was only a single undefeated team in the CFP last year, and that things can change in a hurry.

Michigan State is sixth in ap poll and a virtual lock to be in the playoff with two more wins.