Written by Matt Zemek at Bloguin
It was the noted philosopher Robert Goulet who once said, “On a clear day, you can see forever and ever, and evermore.”
The middle of October is generally not a time when you can see forever in college football.
This year, that statement seems to be especially resonant.
We are (sad to say) at the midpoint of the 2015 college football season. Seven full weeks have come, and seven are left. Army-Navy isn’t so much a “week-15″ game as it is its own event on an island. Essentially, there are 14 weeks this year, and we’ve finished half of them. Sure, some teams have risen and others have fallen. Some teams are in the driver’s seat for New Year’s Six bowls, and some are either out of the running or about to be. Yet, in terms of the playoff field, very little appears to be set in stone.
Going over the playoff possibilities for just a little bit of time pounds this point home.
The various conference races provide the one modest measure of clarity in this 2015 campaign, but that clarity is expressed in the form of choices between or among teams. The Pac-12 race is clear, but it’s a race involving Stanford, Utah, California, and Oregon. The ACC race is clear, but it’s a competition between Florida State and Clemson. Which team wins that competition — and with no losses or one loss after 13 games — matters. Why? Clemson beat Notre Dame. If the Tigers are the ACC champion with one loss, Notre Dame will have a hard time getting into the playoff. If Florida State not only wins the ACC, but does so with a 12-1 record (perhaps after losing at Florida), an 11-1 Notre Dame team would have a better shot.
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