Oklahoma

Here is the strangest part about Saturday's final push toward the College Football Playoff: the only lock among the four currently atop the ranking isn't either of the two unbeaten teams, nor the one that recently defeated defending national champion Ohio State. The lock is the team that lost to seven-loss Texas. Oklahoma is the team sipping an umbrella drink while everyone else scrambles for the final three semifinal spots. The Sooners represent the Big 12 conference, the same league that botched last year's finish because, lacking a conference title game, it declared Texas Christian and Baylor co-champions. This is why you always use a pencil, not a pen, to predict college football seasons. They are like snowflakes; no two are the same. Last year, Texas Christian was third in the next-to-last ranking, then blasted Iowa State, 55-3, in its final game — and dropped to No. 6 in the final ranking. The Horned Frogs' only loss was by three points, on the road, against Baylor, another top-10 team. Yet, this year, third-ranked Oklahoma has almost zero chance of missing the playoff, even though the Sooners own the worst loss of any team in the top eight. The selection committee, in its final regular-season release Tuesday, all but spelled out how things were going to play out. Any mystery is only being manufactured by members of the media who emphatically eliminated Stanford after it lost to Oregon and are now too embarrassed to acknowledge the Cardinal is on the doorstep of being back in. This is why, in some places, you see long-shot and praying for chaos attached to Stanford's portfolio. True chaos only occurs if Clemson loses to North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and Alabama loses to Florida for the Southeastern Conference championship. If Clemson and Alabama win, well, any mystery is over. The committee provided the clues in Tuesday's ranking — you just had to find them. It effectively eliminated Florida from contention, even as a two-loss SEC champion, by dropping the Gators six spots to No. 18. There is no way Florida gets to four from 18, even if it defeats Alabama.