Re: College Football 2015-16: The Big Ten Rises
I would anticipate stanford jumping ahead of ohio state to #6
Could well be.
The Committee's calling is to select the "ideal" 4 team field. I translate that to mean the field that will be seen as the most legitimate, as perceived by the college football community. Including two B1G teams would mean excluding at least two P5 conferences, and provoke a firestorm of protest. Just can't imagine that outcome. I have to believe that the Iowa/MSU winner will be selected. Putting those two thoughts together, OSU is of no further use to the Committee this year. Conversely, Stanford is an appealing Plan B should either Alabama or Clemson falter.
...And if the committee has no problem ranking one loss power five teams ahead of an undefeated iowa, they should also have no problem ranking a two loss team ahead of a one loss team.
Still a relevant issue. But including a two loss team is a possible outcome.
Stanford has more quality wins on their resume than ohio state and just beat a higher ranked team than ohio state just did.
The above notwithstanding, if the rationale is last Saturday's results, then I strongly disagree. The comparison: Winning a squeaker at home over ND vs. a dominating road win over UM. While I wouldn't necessarily claim OSU's win was superior, I might give it a slight edge.
Stanford snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat in a highly entertaining fashion. But given the exact circumstances, I doubt even Stanford would claim the game proves they're better than ND. They simply got the ball last, and made the necessary plays. In contrast, the Buckeye win clearly settled the OSU/UM question for 2015.
Finally, regarding the rankings argument, UM & ND both started the weekend outside the Top 4 but inside the Top 10. Not a significant difference in opponent quality, IMHO.
