Ducks dunked; Bearcats, Irish lurking … The path to the CFP playoff got a shakeup this evening when Utah knocked 3rd ranked Oregon out of contention with a crushing 38-7 loss. That should re-open the door to a possible bid for Cincinnati, which is looking to become the first non-Power 5 conference to make the NCAA playoffs. Oregon’s loss also likely moves Notre Dame up to the bubble team. It also very possibly raises the tricky question of whether the committee would ever consider including once-beaten Notre Dame in the 4-team playoff over unbeaten Cincinnati, particularly when the Irish’s one loss was at home against the Bearcats. And the answer is probably yes they would because that’s what they do. At the same time, though, the committee’s dilemma whether to include a twice-beaten Alabama, should the Tide lose the SEC conference championship game to Georgia, might have just gotten a little more complicated. It was just hard to see, for the example, the committee bumping Alabama for Cincinnati; however, bumping the Tide for the Irish would be a whole different matter. Stay tuned, its going to be an interesting 2-3 weeks. Buckle up!!
