College Football Playoff 2015: Week 12 Rankings Released by the Committee

It is mid-November in another college football season, and it'd frankly be more surprising at this point if things went according to plan on the field than off script. We can throw words like "chaos" and "upsets" around when highly ranked teams fall, but that has become the new normal in the sport. 

As a result, the four coveted College Football Playoff positions are still up for grabs with only two more weeks of regular-season showdowns remaining until the conference title games.

The picture once again looks different with the release of the Week 12 rankings, largely because four Top 10 teams lost on Saturday (Baylor to Oklahoma, Stanford to Oregon, LSU to Arkansas and Utah to Arizona).

The mainstays are still there with Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame, but squads like Iowa, Oklahoma State and even a one-loss Florida are still right in the thick of the race.

With that in mind, here is a look at the College Football Playoff Week 12 rankings the selection committee released on Tuesday evening:

With the playoff picture still muddled after those four losses by Top 10 teams, it is more straightforward to break things down by conference.

ACC

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Even though it struggled to shake Syracuse on Saturday, Clemson is still in prime position in the ACC with wins over Notre Dame and Florida State.

Wake Forest and South Carolina will not be a problem for the Tigers—just being from the SEC does not make the Gamecocks a threat, especially since they are 1-7 in their conference—although the potential ACC Championship showdown with North Carolina is far more intriguing than it looked a few weeks ago.

The Tar Heels are undefeated in conference play and scored a combined 125 points in the past two games against Duke and Miami. The combination of quarterback Marquise Williams and running back Elijah Hood makes North Carolina a legitimate threat to the Tigers.

An undefeated Clemson would be a lock for the playoff, but a one-loss North Carolina team would need some help even with an ACC crown.

Big 12

The Big 12 featured the most important result of Week 11, as quarterback Baker Mayfield took Oklahoma on the road and beat previously undefeated Baylor by 10 points.

The Sooners received the subsequent boost in the playoff rankings (previously No. 12), and the Big 12’s playoff hopes appear to be centralized in the state of Oklahoma with the one-loss Sooners and undefeated Oklahoma State.

Elsewhere, injuries have derailed a TCU team that nearly fell to hapless Kansas on Saturday, and Baylor doesn’t have any quality wins to fall back on after the loss to Oklahoma.

The winner of the rivalry showdown between the Sooners and Cowboys will have a significant case for a playoff spot, even if Oklahoma has that inexplicable loss to Texas on its resume.

Sooners head coach Bob Stoops suggested that his team would be a lock if it won out during an interview Monday night on ESPN’s SportsCenter (h/t ESPN.com): “I don't know how you couldn't. If you go on the road and beat the No. 6 team in the country, you beat the No. 11 team in the country [TCU] and Oklahoma State also on the road—the No. 4 team in the country—who else is doing that at the end of the year, or even through the whole year?”

It's hard to argue with that.

Big Ten

BRADLEY LEEB/Associated Press

For as much attention as the Big 12 received for its back-loaded schedule, the Big Ten will take center stage in the next few weeks with showdowns between Ohio State and Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan and the East Division winner against a potentially undefeated Iowa.

The bottom line for the Buckeyes is they control their own destiny, regardless of what happens around them.

They are undefeated and the defending national champions, and they face three of the top teams in the country—assuming they get to the Big Ten Championship Game—in the coming weeks as resume boosters. Win out, and head coach Urban Meyer's squad will have a chance to go back-to-back.

Undefeated Iowa likely also controls its destiny with the conference title game against a strong opponent waiting at the end.

Michigan State still needs some help with the loss to Nebraska on its resume, although a victory over the defending champions in Columbus would be as good a win as any team in the nation has this season.

If the Spartans find a way to beat the Buckeyes and Iowa to end the season, they will have a legitimate case for the playoff—especially since the nonconference win over Oregon looks more impressive after the Ducks beat Stanford on Saturday.

As for two-loss Michigan, it is still on the outside looking in and ironically needs help from the archrival Buckeyes to remain in the Big Ten race.

If Ohio State beats the Spartans, the showdown with the Wolverines at the end of the season will decide the East Division.

SEC

For as strong as college football fans assume the SEC is every year, the conference now only touts two realistic playoff contenders after LSU fell off the proverbial cliff with a loss to the same Arkansas team that dropped early games to Toledo and Texas Tech.

Alabama looks like the best team in the country after another convincing win against a quality opponent (Mississippi State). Florida still controls its own destiny despite lackluster showings against Vanderbilt and South Carolina because of a finishing stretch against Florida State and the Crimson Tide—assuming Alabama reaches the SEC title game.

As long as the Gators take care of business against the Seminoles and Alabama beats Auburn, the winner of the SEC Championship Game will be in the playoff.

Pac-12 

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Things are starting to look rather dire for the Pac-12 after Saturday's results.

Typically, a loss to Oregon is nothing for Stanford to hang its head about, but the Ducks have three losses this year and are not realistic playoff contenders. Elsewhere, Utah dropped a costly game to an Arizona team that fell in its previous three contests, including a 49-3 beatdown at the hands of Washington.

Every team in the league now has multiple losses, and only Stanford still has much semblance of a playoff dream because of the Notre Dame carrot dangling at the end of the schedule.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame represents something of a nightmare scenario for the power conferences, especially since there are only four spots for the Power Five leagues. The Fighting Irish making the playoffs would mean at least two of the leagues were left out.

If head coach Brian Kelly’s squad wins out, it will have victories over solid teams in Temple, USC, Pittsburgh and Stanford. However, its resume took a hit when the Owls lost to South Florida in blowout fashion and Stanford fell to Oregon on Saturday.

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit suggested as much:

It also hurts Notre Dame that Texas, Georgia Tech and USC have all underperformed this year, which has taken much of the luster off a schedule many assumed was one of the best in the nation before the season started.

In an interesting twist, 8-1 Navy may be the best quality win for the Fighting Irish when the dust settles—especially if the Midshipmen find a way to knock off undefeated Houston on Nov. 27.

The outcome of the Navy-Houston showdown will directly impact Notre Dame’s chances of making the playoff. Welcome to the new normal.