For Spartans, Path To College Football Playoff Berth Is Simple: ‘Win And You’re In’

There’s an old saying: the more things change, the more they stay the same, and that certainly held true for the fifth—and second to last of the six—College Football Playoff rankings which came out last night like they do every Tuesday night.

While there have been many changes over the college football landscape in the course of the final week of the regular season’s rivalry week—the top five teams in the playoff remained unchanged from last week.

The top four that would play tomorrow in the College Playoff would be number #1 Clemson facing #4 Iowa on New Year’s eve (in the Capital One Orange Bowl) and #2 Alabama facing #3 Oklahoma—who put a strangle hold on the three slot with their blowout win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys Saturday (playing in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic).

But the only thing anyone could argue is instead of giving the number four slot to undefeated Iowa—they could have just changed that to say “Big 10 Champ.”

That’s because the #5 team is the 11-1 Michigan State Spartans, who will face the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes as three and half point favorites, in Saturday’s Big 10 Championship. And it doesn’t take a numerologist to know that being #1 in the Big 10 makes you FOUR—in the CFB rankings.

The top three will remain, but don’t kid yourself—Michigan State will trounce Iowa Saturday in that game and get the four slot.

They would be undefeated if not for this horrific call earlier in the season against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. That’s the worst call associated with Lincoln Since MaryTodd said hey be—lets hit a movie tonight.

And, while the Big Ten playoff team seems clearly to be the winner of this Saturday's title tilt -- the playoff picture could get really weird if Clemson and/or Alabama lose in their respective league championship games.

Here's my take: I know it's not kosher to take Ohio State's side here in Michigan, but I seriously believe the Buckeyes could beat Clemson and Oklahoma, and probably Alabama. In other words, the two best teams in the country right now are OSU and MSU. There I said it.