Iowa stays at No. 4 in CFP rankings

Iowa stayed status quo in the College Football Playoff rankings, and for one week, that was enough.

The unbeaten Hawkeyes remained No. 4 behind Clemson (12-0), Alabama (11-1) and Oklahoma (11-1) in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings, which were released Tuesday night.

Ranked right behind Iowa (12-0) were Big Ten foes No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) and No. 6 Ohio State (11-1). The Hawkeyes and the Spartans play Saturday night for the Big Ten championship with the winner presumably advancing to the four-team playoffs.

Iowa topped Nebraska 28-20 in its regular-season finale, while Michigan State blasted Penn State 55-16. That led to heavy discussion among playoff committee members about the teams flipping spots.

'We had great debate about Iowa and Michigan State,' said College Football Playoff chairman Jeff Long, who also serves as Arkansas' athletics director. 'I thought from the conversation in the room that a vote may have put Michigan State in front of Iowa. It did not, but I can tell you those discussions were long and hard and deep, thorough, and very, very close.'

The top five teams stayed the same from last week. Ohio State moved up two spots from eighth. Stanford (10-2) ranked seventh, followed by Notre Dame (10-2), Florida State (10-2) and North Carolina (10-2).

Two other Big Ten teams — No. 14 Northwestern, No. 15 Michigan — also were ranked.

Ohio State's 42-13 win at Michigan boosted the Buckeyes within range of earning a spot in the top four. But with the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten championship game — and barring another conference game upset — it will be difficult for them to jump into the top four.

'Our protocol clearly says there can be more than one team from a conference in the Final Four, so that's definitely a possibility,' Long said. 'And then secondly, last year there was discussion about having a — not having a conference championship game hurting a team, and then this year there's discussion about it advantaging a team.'

Oklahoma already has clinched the Big 12 title and appears to have locked up a playoff spot.

The final College Football Rankings are released Sunday following Saturday's championship game action. The semifinal matchups are announced around 11 a.m., with the other four bowl pairings disclosed around 3 p.m.

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