Bowl Predictions 2015: Updated CFP Predictions Before Final Poll

The College Football Playoff field is all but set. All that's left is to make official who plays whom and where.

The Clemson Tigers will more than likely enter the CFP semifinals with the No. 1 seed. After that, it's anybody's guess how the committee will organize everything.

Here's how the top 10 of the CFP poll should look heading into Sunday, when the official announcements are made.

Rank	Team
1	Clemson Tigers
2	Alabama Crimson Tide
3	Michigan State Spartans
4	Oklahoma Sooners
5	Stanford Cardinal
6	Iowa Hawkeyes
7	Ohio State Buckeyes
8	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
9	Florida State Seminoles
10	Ole Miss Rebels

Just Missed the Cut:

No. 5 Stanford Cardinal

The Cardinal did all they could to get a spot in the College Football Playoff, but the two losses on their record may be too much to overcome.

Their consolation prize, though, is not a bad one. A spot in the Rose Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes should more than likely await them when the committee makes the announcements Sunday.

But it poses an interesting question: What would have happened had Stanford beaten the Oregon Ducks or even the Northwestern Wildcats? Would a one-loss Stanford team jump Oklahoma in the final standings? It's a possibility, especially when the lack of a conference championship could have hurt the Sooners' chances.

CBS Sports' Pete Prisco has come to terms with the fact that the Cardinal might not be in the Final Four:

That doesn't mean Stanford isn't a great team compared to the other four. Watching Christian McCaffrey go against the likes of Clemson, Alabama or Michigan State would be must-see television. McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders' record for all-purpose yards on Saturday. He would be great from a ratings perspective.

Stanford is great but just didn't have enough in the tank to be considered one of the four best teams in the country. This is more of a reason why eight playoff teams is a reasonable number.

No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes

The Iowa Hawkeyes were not supposed to be this close. But they were, and one L.J. Scott lunge toward the end zone ended their hopes of competing for a national championship.

Iowa's loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten title game should not penalize the Hawkeyes harshly at all, which means they should not fall past the Ohio State Buckeyes in the rankings.

That also means Iowa should play in the Rose Bowl against the aforementioned Stanford Cardinal, while Ohio State is an at-large in the Fiesta Bowl or Peach Bowl. 

The effort the Hawkeyes displayed is reason enough to get them into the Rose Bowl, and Mark Schlabach from ESPN.com feels the same way:

Iowa is not as exciting as Stanford, Clemson or even Alabama. But the Hawkeyes deserve some sort of reward for the path they traveled this year. That prize is a spot in the Rose Bowl, not being bumped for a team that didn't play in the conference title game.