College football playoff rankings 2024: Biggest takeaways from week 15's standings

The second-to-last set of College Football Playoff rankings were released last night, and the picture is finally taking shape for fans. With just a handful of conference title games remaining, there's not a ton of movement left to happen, but there are still a couple of teams who have a solid chance of making the field. Let's take a look at the biggest takeaways from this week's rankings.

ALABAMA REMAINS THE GOLDEN CHILD

Heading into this week's rankings, there was widespread speculation that we might see Alabama wind up on the outside looking in. After all, the Crimson Tide were just 9-3, and their best wins were against a Georgia team who very nearly came back to beat them, and a two-point win over South Carolina at home, in which the Crimson Tide needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Gamecocks.

Instead, what we got was what we all feared: in the eyes of the selection committee, Kalen DeBoer's team still can do no wrong. Sure, they lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years, and to Tennessee. But those were earlier in the season, right? Surely the Crimson Tide definitely finished strong.

Nope! Apparently getting stomped into a fine paste by Oklahoma just two weeks ago didn't matter to the committee. And with no other games for Alabama to play (and possibly lose), it's unlikely that they're getting bumped out of the field. I don't know what it would have taken to keep a 9-3 Alabama out of this field, but I suspect the words "divine intervention" would have to be in play.

SOUTH CAROLINA IS PROBABLY SCREWED

The South Carolina Gamecocks have been one of the most fun stories in college football in recent weeks, knocking off elite foes while playing a fun, big-play style of football that could make them the darlings of the playoff.

Unfortunately for Shane Beamer's team, they likely won't get a chance to show the country how much fun they are. Despite holding wins over Texas A&M, Missouri, and Clemson, South Carolina find themselves 14th, behind fellow three-loss team Ole Miss, and Miami on the Playoff bubble. Their losses to LSU (by three points), Alabama (by two points), and Ole Miss (by siginificantly more than three points) proved to be too much for the committee to overlook.

Which probably has opposing coaches breathing a sigh of relief.

THE ACC IS PROBABLY A ONE BID LEAGUE

A couple of weeks ago, the ACC were sitting pretty; with both SMU and Miami sitting in the top 10, and on the edge of the top 5, and Clemson lurking just outside the top 12, there was a distinct possibility that the league would get at least two, and possibly three teams into the playoff.

Oh how quickly things change. Miami fell to Syracuse, knocking them out of the ACC title game, and putting Clemson in. While the Tigers locked into the title game, they stumbled as well, losing to archrivals South Carolina. Suddenly, the ACC has Miami sitting outside the playoff picture with no game to play their way in, and Clemson sitting with three losses and desperately needing the conference's automatic bid to make the field.

While SMU held serve, and still sits at 11-1, they're also only ranked eighth. And with the rest of the top of the ACC tripping over their own feet, a loss to 9-3 Clemson will thrust the Tigers into the field and launch the Mustangs right out.

Even a lackluster Big 12 champion can't help them, as five conference champions are guaranteed berths. In other words, there doesn't appear to be any kind of wizardry that would put two ACC teams in the field this year.

THE BIG 12 IS LOCKED IN

The singular conference that can breathe easier now than they could a week ago is the Big 12. Coming into last week, there were a ton of permutations of teams who could make the conference's title game, and if things broke the wrong way, this conference full of good, but not great teams could be left entirely out in the cold come playoff time.

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Fortunately for them, things went according to plan, as Arizona State and Iowa State both held serve. On top of that, the likeliest interloper remaining on the board in Tulane, had their own issues en route to a loss to Memphis.

Now, no matter what happens on Saturday, the Big 12 can rest easy knowing they'll have some kind of representation in the field.

THE COMMITTEE DOESN'T TRUST NOTRE DAME

The one team being punished for a bad loss appears to be Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had an ugly loss in Week 2, falling 17-14 at home to an unranked Northern Illinois. They've been unstoppable since, stomping out all comers and looking every bit the part of a top five team.

But, no matter what they do, the Irish can't seem to jump Penn State in the rankings. They have the more compelling victory on their schedule (over Texas A&M in College Station), and have been stomping out their opponents far more convincingly than the Nittany Lions have.

The two teams even have a common opponent, in USC. Penn State needed overtime to beat the Trojans on the road in a three-point victory, while the Irish treated USC like a cartoon bully who holds their foe at arm's length, letting them swing futilely at them until they tire out, in a 49-35 win on the road.

Maybe a Big 10 title game loss will be enough to force the committee to knock the Nittany Lions below the Irish, but at this point, even that might not be enough.

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