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College Football Playoff Rankings Week 12 2015: the 2 Most Critical Weeks of the Season Approach

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The Oklahoma Sooners may not be perfect; they lost to Texas and the won ugly against TCU, but they payoff came in week 12.

Oklahoma (3) leapt into the College Football Playoff (CFP) Top Four, surpassing Iowa (4) and Notre Dame (6), both of which were Top Five teams that won. Remaining atop the CFP Top Four was Clemson (1) and Alabama (2).

B1G

Now the playoff hopefuls enter into a critical final regular season week. Michigan State (5), who won ugly against Ohio State (8), now stands to win the Big Ten East if they can beat Penn State. A loss would make Ohio State's game with Michigan (10) a winner-take-all for the division.

Big 12

When once there were multiple undefeated teams, there is now multiple one-loss teams, all of whom have some chance to take the Big 12 title. Oklahoma is in the driver's seat and would win the title by beating Oklahoma State (11).

Baylor (7) can win the conference with a wins over TCU (19, eliminated from contention) and Texas and if Oklahoma State wins its game.

Finally, Oklahoma State needs to beat Oklahoma and hope Baylor loses at least one more time.

SEC

Alabama has not clinched the SEC West, but all they have to do is beat Auburn on the road to do so. The only team that can usurp the Tide and effectively end their CFP run is Ole Miss (18), who can clinch the SEC West with a win over Mississippi State and an Alabama loss.

The SEC East is already decided, but Florida (14) is not inspiring any confidence amid their four-game winning streak after losing to LSU. Florida may still be able to clinch a CFP spot if they can beat Florida State (13) and then take the SEC crown, especially if their opponent is Alabama.

But how about a scenario in which Ole Miss wins the SEC? Would the conference be left out of the CFP? Or would the committee put in a team with three losses?

Pac-12

Stanford (9) may represent the best chance of making the CFP with more than one loss. They can put themselves into a position to claim that final spot by beating Notre Dame this weekend, being voted into the Top Five, and then by winning the Pac-12.

ACC

Clemson has the easiest path to the CFP, as they will need to beat South Carolina this weekend and North Carolina (14) in the conference championship. North Carolina can make thing interesting by taking the ACC title, but would certainly wind up being an all-time upset.

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