Stanford Cardinal

Mandel's Top 10: Does MSU, ND or OU deserve playoff spot most?

Published Nov. 22, 2015 3:56 a.m. ET

Stewart Mandel

Michigan State’s upset of Ohio State coupled with Baylor’s and Oklahoma’s victories coupled with the fact we’re suddenly very close to the end of the season made this the hardest week yet. In particular, differentiating between Michigan State, Oklahoma and Notre Dame -- all 10-1, all with cases to be made for No. 4 -- was incredibly difficult.

Ultimately it’s hard to oversell what a significant win the Spartans notched Saturday at Ohio State. If they win out, they’re in the playoff.

1. Clemson (11-0): The Tigers took care of business against 3-8 Wake Forest thanks to another strong performance from QB Deshaun Watson. Clemson reached the 500-yard mark for the seventh straight game.

2. Alabama (10-1): Despite Nick Saban’s warnings otherwise, Charleston Southern did not prove to be a challenge for the Tide. Next week’s Iron Bowl lacks the drama of the past couple years with Auburn at 6-5.

3. Iowa (11-0): The Hawkeyes are now one of just two remaining undefeated teams. Northwestern, whom the Hawkeyes beat by 30 points on the road, improved to 9-2 on Saturday with a win at Wisconsin.

4. Michigan State (10-1): The Spartans snapped Ohio State’s 23-game win streak, on the road, without Connor Cook. That’s a wow. And their resume also now includes wins over 9-2 Michigan, 8-3 Oregon and 8-3 Air Force.

5. Oklahoma (10-1): The Sooners should have beaten injury-depleted TCU more convincingly, though losing QB Baker Mayfield did not help. OU can add another notch to its resume next week at 10-1 Oklahoma State.

6. Notre Dame (10-1): The Irish coughed up five turnovers in a sloppy 19-16 win against BC. ND has played a decent schedule, but at this point Navy (9-1) is the only team they’ve beaten that’s certain to be in the Top 25.

7. Baylor (9-1): Baylor rebounded with a resounding win at 10-0 Oklahoma State in which its defense notched six sacks. The offense racked up 700 yards despite playing the second half with third-string QB Chris Johnson.

8. Ohio State (10-1): The Buckeyes’ defense did its part, again, but their offense imploded against Michigan State. Even more troubling is the postgame turmoil that Ezekiel Elliott generated with his comments.

9. North Carolina (10-1): The Tar Heels needed overtime to pull one out at now 5-6 Virginia Tech. That’s not as troubling as the fact that the team UNC lost to, South Carolina, is now staring at 3-9, and it played two FCS foes.

10. Stanford (9-2): Florida has nearly lost to Vandy and FAU. Oklahoma State got blown out on its own field. I have more faith in the two-loss Cardinal, especially given those defeats came to 9-2 Northwestern and 8-3 Oregon.

Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. He covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel and Facebook. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.