College Football Playoff: Week 12 results from a Michigan State perspective

Michigan State won the game it absolutely had to win to stay in contention for the college football playoff. In an old-fashioned slobberknocker, MSU beat last year’s national champs and have a great shot at making the playoffs.

Obviously they need to take care of business in this weekend’s game against Penn State and they have to win the Big Ten Championship next week. But even with those victories, it isn’t an open and shut case for the Spartans. Had they held on to a 12 point lead with three minutes to go against Nebraska, it would have been a slam dunk — but they didn’t and so it isn’t.

We still have to keep an eye on the rest of the country to see how this will all shake out. And for those saying that State is ranked five and so if they win out, they have to be in, look no farther than the Big 12 last year when the teams they had poised to be in the playoff got suddenly and almost inexplicably dropped out of contention. The biggest threat to MSU’s place in the playoff should they win out is Notre Dame.

Notre Dame hasn’t really beaten anybody, but the committee still likes them a lot. Notre Dame plays Stanford this week and Spartan fans should be rooting for the Stanford Cardinal for sure. Let’s take a look at the results from last week and the key games this week.

The most important result

Nov 21, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan State Spartans place kicker Michael Geiger (4) celebrates after making the game-winning field goal on the final play of the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. The Spartans won 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

No. 9 MSU 17, No. 3 tOSU 14: Make no mistake, MSU dominated this game. They deserved to win and deserve to be in prime position to make the playoff. Mark Dantonio’s teams have been good at focusing on the team they are playing that week as opposed to reeling after a loss, celebrating after a win, or looking ahead. They will need that focus again to take care of business against Penn State.

Results that helped

Nov 21, 2015; Iowa City, IA, USA;Iowa Hawkeyes tight end George Kittle (46) celebrates a touchdown catch against the Purdue Boilermakers in the third quarter at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa beat Purdue 40-20. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

No. 5 Iowa 40, Purdue 20: By virtue of this win Iowa jumped into the top 4. If they beat Nebraska, MSU will be in position to have wins against two top 10 teams and 4 top 25 teams. If Iowa stays unbeaten and in the top 4 it would be hard for the committee to leave MSU out if they beat Iowa.

No. 12 Michigan 28, Penn St 16: Michigan has gotten itself into the top 10. This means that the winner of Ohio State/Michigan this weekend will stay in the top 10 and give MSU a top 10 win.

No. 10 Baylor 45, No. 6 Oklahoma State 35: Knocking off an undefeated Oklahoma State is important for MSU in that it opens up the possibility of getting a bid over the Big 12. The Big 12 has guaranteed itself a one-loss champ, though, so that may not matter so much.

UCLA 17, No. 13 Utah 9: There is a chance that the Pac-12 champ will have three losses now as UCLA meets four-loss USC for the right to face Stanford in the Pac-12 championship. The Pac-12 is pretty much out of contention for a playoff spot, but still pretty cool.

No. 23 Oregon 48, No. 24 USC 28: The Oregon Ducks keep winning and with this win kept their slim Pac-12 championships hopes alive (which would have been awesome for MSU not only because the Ducks have three losses, but they also beat the Ducks head-to-head). Stanford beat Cal and eliminated Oregon from contention, but the more Oregon wins, the better for MSU.  If Oregon beats Oregon State this week, MSU will have a top 25 win on their resume.

Results that could have helped but then they didn’t

Nov 21, 2015; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators defensive back Brian Poole (24) celebrates on fourth down as they beat the Florida Atlantic Owls in overtime against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida Gators defeated the Florida Atlantic Owls 20-14. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

No. 8 Florida 20, Florida Atlantic 14 (OT): Florida Atlantic gave everything they had and almost pulled off an epic upset. This result probably did help MSU in that Florida actually dropped four spots despite winning. It could have really helped though had Florida Atlantic won — especially if Florida manages to win the SEC.

No. 17 North Carolina 30, Virginia Tech 27 (OT): In Frank Beamer’s last home game Virginia Tech gave a surprising North Carolina team all that it could handle. It would be great for MSU if North Carolina is able to upset Clemson in the ACC title game and it would be even greater if North Carolina takes one more loss before that matchup. The committee loves Clemson so much that a win against Clemson might propel North Carolina above Michigan State.

Results that hurt

Nov 21, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver C.J. Sanders (9) makes a reception while defended by Boston College Eagles defensive back John Johnson (9) during the third quarter at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

No. 4 Notre Dame 19, Boston College 16: Boston College was not able to take advantage of FIVE Notre Dame turnovers to hand Notre Dame a much needed L. Notre Dame pulled off the win but fell two spots in the playoff ranking. Still any wins for Notre Dame hurt MSU. This is especially true for their game against No. 9 Stanford this weekend.

No. 7 Oklahoma 30, No. 18 TCU 29: This win propelled Oklahoma all the way up to No. 3 in the college football playoff rankings. It’s a little bit strange since the game came down to a missed two-point conversion by TCU. Oklahoma certainly wasn’t dominant in this game. The decision to go for two was a little strange since TCU had all the momentum at that time and would likely have carried the momentum into overtime.

A win by TCU was also the only chance that Big 12 champ would end with two losses. Now the Big 12 champ will have at most one loss with 1-loss Oklahoma meeting one-loss Oklahoma State this weekend.

No. 11 Stanford, 35, Cal 22: Stanford took care of business and clinched a place in the Pac-12 championship game. An upset by Cal would have meant that Oregon would represent the Pac-12 North had they beaten Oregon St. this weekend. Alas it wasn’t meant to be. Stanford could do MSU a solid by beating Notre Dame this weekend.

Key Games This Week

• No. 4 Iowa at Nebraska
• No. 7 Baylor at No. 19 TCU
• No. 8 Ohio State at No. 10 Michigan
• No. 14 North Carolina at North Carolina State
• No. 2 Alabama at Auburn
• No. 22 UCLA at USC
• No. 18 Ole Miss at No. 21 Mississippi State
• No. 13 Florida State at No. 12 Florida
• No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 9 Stanford
• No. 3 Okahoma at No. 11 Oklahoma State