Buy or Sell: An Undefeated Big 12 Team Gets Left Out of the Playoff

The outrage is growing for fans. The College Football Playoff Committee clearly does not think highly of the Big 12 Conference up to this point in the season. Oklahoma State picked up arguably the second best win of any top 10 team this weekend and is left looking up at seven teams in front of them in the rankings (3 teams with a loss). Meanwhile, Baylor (who has manhandled just about everyone to this point) gets to listen to Jeff Long explain to them why Iowa is a better team. This has to be concerning to both OSU and Baylor. It's not time to panic yet, but we are approaching freak out mode quickly.

With all of this in mind, there is still a lot of great football to be played in the conference between the top teams, and the potential for an undefeated team to make it out of the November gauntlet is still alive. Which brings us to an important question. Will an undefeated Big 12 team get snubbed in the final playoff rankings?

BUY

The CFP committee seems to be changing their criteria for teams every week to support their rankings. Everyone could live (sort of) with the rankings last week, but OSU AND Baylor not ahead of a very underwhelming Iowa team in this week's rankings is laughable. Jeff Long's explanation for Iowa at #5 is pretty weak.

"I think we recognize that they are consistent on both sides of the ball," Long said. "They're not a flashy team, but they are consistent."

Additionally, one-loss Stanford is ranked ahead of Oklahoma State simply because their 9 a.m. PT kickoff was enough to give them a pass.

"Yeah, I think it is a significant thing," Long said. "Now, every committee member would weigh that differently, but I think it is worth noting that they play at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Weather certainly plays a factor. When games start, certainly."

Baylor and Oklahoma State still have to take care of business, but if either team escapes November without a loss they will still be on the outside looking in if the top four teams also win out. Notre Dame is sitting pretty right now at #4. Ohio State is getting a bump because of what they did last season, and Clemson has the best win (in the CFP committee's eyes) of any team in the country beating Notre Dame. There are just too many factors for either Baylor or Oklahoma State to overcome between now and the end of the season, regardless of the back loaded Big 12 schedule.

SELL

Baylor has played nobody to this point. IF they were to beat #12 OU, they will jump Iowa and move into the #5 spot. Which sets up a showdown of undefeated teams in Stillwater next weekend. The winner of that game will have survived two out of three extremely difficult games, and will give the committee more than enough reason to jump the winner ahead of Notre Dame AND Iowa to claim the #4 spot. If it's OSU, they will get one more chance at a quality win against OU. If Baylor escapes Stillwater with a victory, beating TCU will bolster their resume to the committee. Either way the Big 12 has everything in front of them to make a big jump into the top four.