Even if the Badgers jumped ahead of idle Michigan with a win over Penn State on Saturday, they would also need either Clemson or Washington to lose. The Huskies play No. 8 Colorado for the Pac-12 Championship on Friday night, while Clemson will face No. 23 Virginia Tech on Saturday night in the ACC title game.

Some have made the argument that the two-loss Big Ten champion should jump ahead of one-loss Ohio State, particularly in the scenario that Big Ten East champion Penn State wins Saturday.

“The mission and the sole focus and purpose of the selection committee is to rank the four very best teams in college football for inclusion into the playoff,” Hocutt said. "We’ve analyzed. We’ve gone inside this data in detail, and we’ve looked at teams side by side. Right now, as our rankings show this week, the selection committee believes as of this week that Ohio State is No. 2 and that Penn State is still sitting in that seventh spot."

When asked if the Big Ten Championship game could change that, Hocutt said that the committee doesn’t look ahead — an answer that he’s given before on the network when asked about future possibilities.