Tonight, the second-most important college football poll of the season will be revealed by Jeff Long and the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
It would be surprising if there were any changes in last week's top four picks of:
Clemson
Alabama
Oklahoma
Iowa
Iowa and Clemson are undefeated, Alabama has one loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 19 when the Crimson Tide turned it over four times, and Oklahoma had that horrible loss to Texas.
But the Sooners have been one of the nation's hottest teams since and spanked arch-rival Oklahoma State in Stillwater last Saturday 58-23.
The Sooners' victory might have landed quarterback Baker Mayfield on the invite list to New York for the Heisman Trophy, where he will have a great seat to watch someone else accept the award.
More on the Heisman later this week, but yours truly cast his vote Monday. It was done before the conference championships, as is my practice, because it is supposed to be based on the body of work, and the vote will not be revealed.
As for the poll, Michigan State should be No. 5 and so the winner of the Big Ten Championship Game between the Spartans and the Iowa should be in the Final Four next Tuesday when the four-team playoff is announced.
Expect OU to still be there even though the Big 12 doesn't have a conference championship because they have 10 teams, and isn't it about time it asked the Big Ten, which has 14 teams, for rights to use that name, or add Houston and Memphis to the league?
Oklahoma might get some extra consideration because the Big 12 was left out of the playoffs last year, but the committee was right when it took one-loss Ohio State over one-loss Baylor and TCU. Ohio State made it look easy in winning the first College Football Playoff championship.
The Buckeyes are a bit of a long shot to get back after losing to Michigan State, but Ohio State could move back up with No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 7 Baylor losing last Saturday.
The question is, how much?
The Buckeyes are No. 8, but at No. 9 is Stanford, which just beat Notre Dame. Ohio State rolled over Michigan, but it could be a while before that happens again. The Wolverines were vastly improved this season and finished 9-3 under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh.
What is standing in the way of the Cardinal is wildly talented Southern Cal. The Trojans have overcome a myriad of problems this season, but they knocked off UCLA last Saturday to end in a three-way tie for the Pacific-12 South title and owned the tie breaker with victories over the Bruins and Utah.
On Monday morning, USC took a major step in stabilizing its program when it took the interim tag off and gave the head coaching job to Clay Helton. That could be extra motivation for the Trojans and making it a trap game for Stanford this Saturday in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
The team with the most difficult path to stay in the Final Four could be No. 1 Clemson, which takes on North Carolina this Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game.
The Tar Heels have won 11 in a row since losing their season opener to South Carolina 17-13, one of the last good memories Steve Spurrier had as the Gamecocks' head coach.
North Carolina and Clemson had five common opponents, including South Carolina, and both beat the other four fairly soundly.
The game is in Charlotte, N.C., site of the Tar Heels' loss to the Gamecocks. It should be a great game.
Tonight, the second-most important poll of the year is announced, just one week before the only one that really counts.
Sports on 12/01/2015