College Football Rankings 2015: Week 13 Conference Standings and Top 25 Polls
The Michigan State Spartans toppled the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday night in a game that altered the College Football Playoff landscape. The 17-14 win in Columbus has reopened the door for the Spartans to earn a spot in the CFP.
A victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions on November 28, and another win over the now-No. 3-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten title game would almost certainly make the Spartans one of the four teams the committee selects.
The fact that Michigan State pulled off the road win without its starting quarterback, Connor Cook, only makes the victory all the more impressive. Junior Tyler O'Connor wasn't spectacular, but he took care of the ball and made smart decisions leading his team to the win.
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After a team win like that one, there should be no doubting the Spartans. Here's a look at the latest rankings from the Associated Press, the coaches and Bleacher Report polls:
Click here to see the standings of each conference, per ESPN.com.
Notre Dame Sitting Pretty
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish aren't in a conference, but if they beat the Stanford Cardinal in their season finale, it's hard to imagine them being left out of the CFP.
Their only loss this season is a two-point setback at the No. 1 Clemson Tigers. Losses don't get more respectable than that. There's a couple of teams that have an opportunity to leapfrog the Irish.
Florida and Oklahoma's Path to the CFP
The Florida Gators rose to No. 10 in the rankings with a 20-14 win over the Florida Atlantic Owls. As Sports Illustrated tweeted, the six-point victory wasn't the statement win the Gators might have hoped to register.
The Gators still have just one loss, and it came on the road to the LSU Tigers. That loss looked a lot better a few weeks ago. However, the Tigers have dropped two games in a row, and that hurts every contending team in the conference.
Still, the Gators are in line to face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC title game. A win there would give Florida a solid resume. How can the committee deny the SEC postseason champion?
It couldn't.
The Oklahoma Sooners have a bad loss on their record this season. The loss to the Texas Longhorns just might keep the Sooners out of the CFP. Oklahoma inched past the TCU Horned Frogs 30-29 on Saturday and moved up to No. 5 in the poll.
With Bedlam on tap for Saturday against the No. 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Sooners have one last shot to make a CFP statement.
Realistically, Oklahoma probably needs Notre Dame to lose to Stanford and for Alabama to knock off Florida in the SEC title game to have a shot. Even then, a one-loss Iowa Hawkeyes team—assuming they lose the Big Ten championship—or even the Buckeyes might still have better resumes.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
