College Football Playoff Projections Week 13: Back to Two SEC Teams?
Nov 15, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defensive lineman Joey Bosa (97) gets congratulated by defensive lineman Steve Miller (88) after sacking Minnesota Golden Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner (not pictured) in the first half at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
One-Loss Teams Still in the College Football Playoff Race
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
That’s right. Over either Big 12 team, the Ohio State Buckeyes are in the best position to reach the College Football Playoff. Why? Because although there is one other team ahead of them in the College Football Playoff rankings right now, that team doesn’t get an extra conference championship game. Ohio State does. Sure, they play Michigan and Indiana before that. But imagine if they win both games and meet Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship and win that. They would easily be the highest ranked team not in the College Football Playoff. All they need is for one of those other four teams to lose, and they’ll be in.
2. Baylor Bears
We keep hearing the case made for TCU over Baylor, but the Bears are still technically the ones in control of their own destiny for the Big 12 Championship. If they win out, TCU can’t have a better record than them, so the Bears will be the ones to win the conference. And by the way, Baylor also gets a chance to really impress the Selection Committee with a huge game against Kansas State, so they would jump to this spot with help from that game at the end of the season as well. Just behind Ohio State, Baylor needs two of the playoff teams to lose or one and then Ohio State.
3. TCU Horned Frogs
It’s ironic, really, because the Horned Frogs are right now the highest ranked team in the College Football Playoff Selection Committee Top 25. But they close out the year against Texas and Iowa State, two games where you don’t really have a great chance to impress anybody. Unfortunately, that spells doom when you lost to Baylor, who gets the head to head and gets to play another ranked team before the season is over, and Ohio State gets the extra conference championship game against likely a ranked team. That’s going to be the difference, so TCU needs losses from three of the Top 4, two of the Top 4 and Baylor or Ohio State, or one of the Top 4 along with Baylor and Ohio State. But hey, all of that is still possible.
Next: Two-Loss Teams Still in the College Football Playoff Race