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College Football Playoff: Week 9 results from a Michigan State perspective

By Thomas Nikundiwe

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The College Football Playoff race officially started this week with the release of the first rankings of the year. Sure games have been played up to this point, but results don’t seem to matter too much as two one-loss teams are ranked ahead of several undefeated squads.

Must Read: 5 reasons why Michigan State is too low in playoff rankings

If fan bases were under the illusion that all their teams had to do was win and everything will take care of itself, they have been disavowed of that this week. All the undefeated teams have been put on notice – you have to do more than win all of your games to get a spot in the playoffs this year.

Michigan State will keep its head down and try to win the rest of the games on their schedule and we’ll keep an eye on the college football landscape. Let’s review last week’s results from an MSU perspective.

Note: Up until this point, we have been using the AP poll for our rankings and that’s reflected in the results from last week. Moving forward we will use the college football playoff rankings.

Results that helped

Oct 31, 2015; Iowa City, IA, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes running back Derrick Mitchell Jr. (32) falls over the goal line for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

No. 10 Iowa 31, Maryland 16: Iowa needs to keep winning and the more impressively the better. Iowa is ranked No. 9 in the CFP and the higher it climbs the stronger a win for MSU looks in the B1G championship game.

No. 15 Michigan 29, Minnesota 26: As fun as it would be for MSU’s win over Michigan to propel the Wolverines into a season ending tailspin, it’s actually better for MSU that the Wolverines finish strongly to add a quality win to their resume.

Penn St 39, Illinois 0: This result doesn’t help MSU too much, but the more Penn State wins on the way to their final week matchup agains the Spartans, the better.

Results that could have helped but then they didn’t

Oct 31, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer (14) runs into the end zone for a touchdown in front of Temple Owls linebacker Jarred Alwan (41) in the first quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

No. 9 Notre Dame 24, Temple 20: This weekend could have helped MSU a lot starting with Notre Dame‘s struggle with Temple. Notre Dame still poses a serious threat to MSU’s playoff aspirations which was confirmed by their No. 5 ranking this week. Notre Dame needed a touchdown with about two minutes left in the game to complete a comeback against a tough Temple team. Maybe MSU’s former defensive coordinator can do MSU a solid this coming weekend.

No. 8 Stanford 30, Washington St. 28: Stanford needed a missed last-second field goal to beat Washington State. Michigan State would have loved for the favorite to win the Pac-12 to get a second loss.

No. 12 Oklahoma St 70, Texas Tech 53: Although this game looks like a blowout, Texas Tech was up by 10 at half and looked unstoppable on offense. Oklahoma State is another undefeated Big 12 team and thus poses a threat to MSU.

Results that hurt

Oct 31, 2015; Raleigh, NC, USA; Clemson Tigers running back Wayne Gallman (9) runs for a touchdown during the second half against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Carter Finley Stadium. Clemson won 56-41. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

No. 5 TCU 40, West Virginia 10: We are down to the last five weeks of the season and dominating performances by those competing against MSU for a playoff spot is a bad look. TCU looked like it was toying with a tough West Virginia team.

No. 3 Clemson 56, NC State 41: Even in a potential trap game for Clemson, they continue to look like one of the best teams in the country. It would be better if they didn’t look like one of the best teams in the country.

Key Games This Week

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