ESPN analysts wade into Michigan vs. Michigan State debate

Although it was ranked at No. 7 behind No. 6 Michigan in the third release of the College Football Playoff Top 25 on Tuesday night, Michigan State could still earn a spot in the top-four – and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway both agree with that.

Currently 9-1 on the season with just one loss to Purdue, the Spartans – although they defeated Michigan this season – are ranked behind the Wolverines in the CFP Top 25 for another week. However, MSU still has remaining games against No. 4 Ohio State and Penn State and could very easily make it into the top-four if it were to defeat the Buckeyes on Saturday on the road in Columbus.

“I just look at Michigan State that if they go to Columbus and win, if they end up winning the tiebreaker over Michigan, they end up going to Indianapolis in the Big Ten championship … I just feel that they still control their own destiny,” Herbstreit said during Tuesday’s release of the Top 25 on ESPN. “If you need to be upset about it, then that’s cool.”

Just like Herbstreit, Galloway noted that it’s not important where Michigan State is ranked right now because there’s plenty of football left to be played.

“What difference does that make, honestly? Michigan State … if they win out, they’ll get in,” Galloway said. “It doesn’t matter right now. I’m usually the guy ready to jump, but in this case, this is the leader of the club in not mattering because all they’ve got to do is win out. If they do that, this takes care of itself. This one doesn’t seem like it matters at all.”

No. 4 Ohio State and No. 7 Michigan State kickoff at Noon ET Saturday on ABC.

Gary Barta’s controversial comments

After the rankings were revealed, CFP Selection Committee chairman Gary Barta once again joined ESPN’s Rece Davis for a conversation about the Week 12 rankings.

When asked to go further in-depth on his repeated comments about Michigan’s status as a “complete team,” Barta seemingly dug a hole for himself – at least in the eyes of college football analysts and fans.

“If you look at it statistically – set aside watching the games, that’s certainly a part of it – but statistically in just about every category offensively and defensively Michigan comes out on top over Michigan State,” said Barta. “Again, it certainly is understood and considered that Michigan State beat Michigan, but at the end of the day the committee added another game this week and the committee decided that Michigan is still needing to be ranked a game ahead of Michigan State. Next week we’ll come back and we’ll look at it again.”

While Gary Barta’s explanation of head-to-head importance will do just fine for Oregon and Michigan fans, others take issue with the inconsistency. However, as the final authority, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee has issued its ruling for the week.

On3’s James Fletcher III contributed to this article.