The Big 12 Championship Game is in the books, and Oklahoma State’s heartbreaking loss to Baylor is good news to two teams: Cincinnati and Notre Dame.
The Bearcats entered this weekend at No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings. But because Oklahoma State lost, Cincinnati doesn’t have to worry about the Cowboys potentially jumping them and stealing their spot.
As long as Cincinnati beats Houston later today, the Bearcats should become the first non-Power 5 team to make the College Football Playoff.
As for Notre Dame, the Irish needed a couple of results to go their way to have a shot to get in the playoff foursome. One of them was Oklahoma State losing to Baylor.
If Georgia beats Alabama and/or Iowa beats Michigan, Notre Dame could very well get into the CFP even though they lost their head coach Brian Kelly to LSU this week.
Notre Dame is likely an Alabama, Michigan or Cincinnati loss away from the College Football Playoff.
The Irish only need one of those.
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) December 4, 2021
Because they are an independent program, Notre Dame isn’t playing this weekend. They just have to watch and hope for the best.
Cincinnati controls some of its own destiny though, especially after the Oklahoma State loss. Win and the Bearcats are in.