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I waited until Wednesday so that I could use the CFP rankings:

• 9-0 Ohio State -32.5 vs UCLA, Sat at 730 on NBC
• 10-0 Indiana -29.5 vs UW Sat at noon on BTN
• 9-0 Texas A&M -19.5 vs USCe Sat at noon on ESPN
• 8-1 Alabama -5.5 vs #11 OU Sat at 330 on ABC
• 8-1 Georgia -5.5 vs #10 Texas, Sat at 730 on ABC
• 9-1 Texas Tech -23.5 vs UCF, Sat at 330 on FOX
• 9-1 Ole Miss -15.5 vs UF, Sat at 7 on ESPN
• 8-1 Oregon -25.5 vs Minnesota Friday at 9 on FOX
• 7-2 Notre Dame -12.5 at #22 Pitt Sat at noon on ABC
• 7-2 Texas +5.5 at #5 UGA, Sat at 730 on ABC
• 7-2 Oklahoma +5.5 at #4 Bama Sat at 330 on ABC
• 8-1 BYU -4.5 vs TCU, Sat at 10:15 on ESPN
• 7-2 Utah -8.5 at Baylor, Sat at 7 on ESPN2
• 8-2 Vanderbilt is off
• 7-2 Miami -14.5 vs NCST, Sat at 330 on ESPN
• 8-1 Georgia Tech -16.5 at BC, Sat at 330 on ACCN
• 7-2 USC -6.5 vs #21 Iowa, Sat at 330 on BTN
• 7-2 Michigan -12.5 at NU Sat at noon on FOX
• 8-2 Virginia +5.5 at Duke, Sat at 330 on ESPN2
• 7-2 Louisville -2.5 vs Clemson, Friday at 730 on ESPN
• 6-3 Iowa +6.5 at #17 USC, Sat at 330 on BTN
• 7-2 Pittsburgh +12.5 vs #9 ND Sat at noon on ABC
• 6-3 Tennessee -41.5 vs NMST, Sat at 4:15 on SECN
• 7-2 South Florida -9.5 at Navy, Sat at noon on ESPN2
• 7-2 Cincinnati -6.5 vs Arizona Sat at noon on FS1

#14 Vanderbilt is off, the other 24 teams are in action this weekend.  The ranked vs ranked games are:

• #4 Bama -5.5 vs #11 OU, Sat at 330 on ABC
• #5 UGA -5.5 vs #10 TX, Sat at 730 on ABC
• #9 ND -12.5 at #22 Pitt, Sat at noon on ABC <-College GameDay
• #17 USC -6.5 vs #21 Iowa, Sat at 330 on BTN

In addition to those eight ranked teams with challenging games, the following are underdogs or favored by single digits:

• #12 BYU is just a 4.5 point favorite vs TCU
• #13 Utah is just a 8.5 point favorite at Baylor
• #19 Virginia is a 5.5 point UNDERDOG at Dook
• #20 Louisville is just a 2.5 point favorite at Clemson
• #24 USF is just a 9.5 point favorite at Navy
• #25 Cincy is just at 6.5 point favorite vs Zona

It may seem odd that GameDay is going to Pitt for the Notre Dame/Pitt game when they have higher-ranked matchups in Tuscaloosa and Athens but the Pitt/ND game is more important than you may realize.  Realistically, this is Notre Dame's last challenging game.  After Pitt they host the Orange and visit the Tree.  Syracuse and Stanford are two of the worst teams in the ACC so Notre Dame should cruise in those games.  That means that if they beat Pitt they will almost certainly end up 10-2 and on a 10-game winning streak.  Given that they are currently ranked #9, that their losses were both close, that their losses were to teams ranked #3 and #15, and that some other teams will necessarily lose, Notre Dame is a near-lock for the playoff at 10-2 and has basically no chance at 9-3 so this game is important to all those teams on or near the bubble.  


Finally, I'll point out that I think some teams are effectively playing to clinch CFP bids.  Ohio State and aTm are both 9-0 and I am fairly certain that either would make the field at 10-2 so a win this weekend locks up a bid.  Indiana at 10-0 may have already locked up a bid but a win this weekend would eliminate any lingering doubt.  

Now the B1G:

• 7-0/10-0 Indiana -29.5 vs UW, Sat at noon on BTN
• 6-0/9-0 Ohio State -32.5 vs UCLA, Sat at 730 on NBC
• 5-1/8-1 Oregon -25.5 vs MN, Fri at 9 on FOX
• 5-1/7-2 USC -6.5 vs Iowa, Sat at 330 on BTN
• 5-1/7-2 Michigan -11.5 at NU, Sat at noon on FOX
• 4-2/6-3 Iowa +6.5 at USC, Sat at 330 on BTN
• 4-2/6-3 Minnesota +25.5 at ORE, Fri at 9 on FOX
• 4-3/7-3 Nebraska 
• 3-3/6-3 Illinois -14.5 vs UMD, Sat at 330 on FS1
• 3-3/6-3 Washington -16.5 vs PU, Sat at 7 on FS1
• 3-3/5-4 Northwestern +11.5 vs M, Sat at noon on FOX
• 3-3/3-6 UCLA +32.5 at tOSU, Sat at 730 on NBC
• 2-5/5-5 Rutgers 
• 1-5/4-5 Maryland +14.5 at IL, Sat at 330 on FS1
• 1-5/3-6 Wisconsin +29.5 at IU, Sat at noon on BTN
• 0-6/3-6 Michigan State +7.5 vs PSU, Sat at 330 on CBS
• 0-6/3-6 Penn State -7.5 at MSU, Sat at 330 on CBS
• 0-7/2-8 Purdue +16.5 at UDub, Sat at 7 on FS1

Nebraska and Rutgers are off this week.  

A lot of teams are sitting at six losses and will be eliminated from bowl consideration with one more loss.  The MSU/PSU loser is out as are UW and UCLA if they lose to IU and tOSU respectively.  

Minn had an extra off week to prepare,  which makes it a little easier than a Friday road game on the west coast normally would be.  

I really like what Minnesota did here for scheduling a West Coast Road Trip.  This is the lowest impact a West Coast trip could possibly be.  They had an extra week before the game so travel there shouldn't be an issue and they are playing a day early so they'll probably fly home on Saturday morning and have a normal practice week as if they had played at home or nearby on Saturday.  

As to the rest of your post, I agree on Minnesota looking like a potential trap game for the Ducks but I'm not sure that the Gophers are good enough to take advantage.  Maybe.  

In terms of the overall playoff picture, the SEC is in an interesting place.  There are currently seven SEC teams with two or less losses in the league and only two of them (Texas - at tOSU and Bama - at FSU) have an OOC loss.  It is theoretically possible for all seven to finish 10-2 or better overall and either 6-2 or 7-1 in the league:

• 6-0/9-0 aTm:  vs USCe, vs Samford, at Texas
• 6-0/8-1 Bama:  lost OOC at FSU, beat UGA and Vandy:  vs OU, vs Directional Illinois, at Auburn
• 6-1/8-1 UGA:  lost vs Bama, beat Ole Miss:  vs Texas, vs Charlotte, vs GaTech
• 5-1/9-1 Ole Miss:  lost at UGA, beat OU:  off, vs UF, at MissSt
• 4-1/7-2 Texas:  lost OOC at tOSU and at UF, beat Vandy and OU:  at UGA, vs Arky, vs aTm
• 4-2/8-2 Vandy:  lost at Bama and at Texas:  vs Kentucky, at Tennessee
• 3-2/7-2 Oklahoma:  lost RR-shootout to Texas and vs Ole Miss:  at Bama, vs Mizzou, vs LSU

This *COULD* all work itself out.  Texas (at UGA) and Oklahoma (at Bama) have tough road games that they are underdogs in this weekend and Vandy will probably be an underdog at Tennessee.  If those three lose those games then there will be no more than four SEC teams with less than three losses so those four probably make the CFP.  But there is a chaos scenario:

So imagine this:

• aTm beats USCe and Samford, loses at Texas, finishes 7-1/11-1
• Bama loses to OU, beats Directional IL and Auburn, finishes 7-1/10-2
• UGA loses to Texas, beats Charlotte and GaTech, finishes 6-2/10-2
• Ole Miss beats UF and MissSt, finishes 7-1/11-1
• Texas wins out, finishes 7-1/10-2
• Vandy wins out, finishes 6-2/10-2
• Oklahoma wins out, finishes 6-2/10-2

The CG spots would be allocated by tiebreaker among the 7-1 teams (aTm, Bama, Ole Miss, Texas).  I have no idea how that works out.  

The two one-loss teams (aTm and Ole Miss) would be safely in at 11-1 if they missed the CG, they would get auto-bids if they won the CG, and I don't think the committee would drop them at 11-2 with a CG loss.  I would think UGA would be safely in with an OOC win over a fairly highly ranked GaTech but that might depend on how good that win looks at the end of the season.  

aTm has the best OOC win of the bunch (ND) but that could change based on how ND and M finish.  There wouldn't be room for all seven of these teams in the CFP Field.  

Don't tell the boy, but I don't think Minnesota is very good. I think they've benefitted from exactly what 847Badge points out, beating a bunch of other poor teams in Minneapolis (by a hair in almost every instance). Oregon will crush them. Nice win over Nebraska, but that's their entire resume (and, sorry Fearless, Nebraska isn't that good, either--but at least they are both better than Wisconsin).

I feel a little decent about one more win for UW this season. Minnie is that one.

Don't tell the boy, but I don't think Minnesota is very good. I think they've benefitted from exactly what 847Badge points out, beating a bunch of other poor teams in Minneapolis (by a hair in almost every instance). Oregon will crush them. Nice win over Nebraska, but that's their entire resume (and, sorry Fearless, Nebraska isn't that good, either--but at least they are both better than Wisconsin).

Yeah, I do a thing where I list results by quality of opposition and it really makes the weakness of Minnesota's resume stand out.  

As you said, Nebraska is their entire resume.  Their other three league wins were:

• At home, in OT over still winless MSU
• At home, by a TD over still winless Purdue
• At home by a FG over Rutgers

 @847badgerfan is right, they scheduled a complete cupcake OOC.  They beat a MAC team that lost to Akron (Buffalo), a horrible FCS team (Northwestern State is 0-6 in the Southland and 1-9 overall), and lost to California which is .500 in a bad ACC.  

Minnesota has REALLY benefitted from the H/A split.  They got annihilated in Columbus and Iowa City by a combined 83-6 but realistically they weren't going to beat the Buckeyes or Hawkeyes no matter where those games were played.  Getting those obvious losses on the road saved HFA for games where it may well have been the difference against the Knights, Boilermakers, and Spartans.  Now they finish up with trips to Eugene and Evanston (is NU playing in Evanston this year?) and the Axe game at home.  I wouldn't be shocked to see them lose out.