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College Football Playoff Projections Week 15: Is Ohio State In? Which Two-Loss Teams Stand a Chance?

By Caleb Calhoun

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Nov 28, 2014; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers fans and students storm the field and tear down the goalposts after the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Faurot Field. Missouri won 21-14. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Two-Loss Teams Still in the College Football Playoff Race

For a quick point of order before we give you our two-loss teams still in the College Football Playoff race, we want it known that we only included teams who have a chance to win their conference championship. There’s just no way for teams who don’t play this weekend and don’t have any shot at winning their conference are going to get love from the Selection Committee with two losses. That being said, here are our teams still in it.

7. Arizona Wildcats, 10-2 (6-2)

Among the teams that still have two losses right now, the Arizona Wildcats were the highest ranked of all of them this past weekend outside of Michigan State. They won’t drop after beating Arizona State. And with another chance to beat Oregon this weekend, a win gives them to quality victories against the Ducks and another quality win against Arizona State. That would at least move them up to No. 6 in these rankings. Then they would need two of the Top 5 to lose, whether it be Baylor to Kansas State, Alabama to Missouri, Ohio State to Wisconsin, Florida State to Georgia Tech, or the longest shot, TCU to Iowa State.

8. Missouri Tigers, 10-2 (7-1)

Up to this point, the Selection Committee hasn’t given much respect to the Missouri Tigers. But what if they beat Alabama to win the SEC Championship? Yes, they have bad losses to Indiana and a blowout from Georgia. But they also have a quality win against Texas A&M. And if they win on Saturday, that’s a quality win against Alabama and vaults up their schedule strength. How can you ignore them at that point? They still won’t have Arizona’s resume, but they would jump over the loser of the Arizona-Oregon game into the Top 6 as well. Then, they need the same scenario Arizona needs except for one less opportunity. The Pac-12 Champion will be above them no matter what, so they need two of the Top 5 to lose, including  TCU to Iowa State, Baylor to Kansas State, Florida State to Georgia Tech, or Ohio State to Wisconsin.

9. Wisconsin Badgers, 10-2 (7-1)

Like Missouri and Arizona, Wisconsin has a chance to jump into the Top 6 this week simply by winning. Doing that would drop Ohio State, and they would jump the losers of the SEC and Pac-12 Championships. Then, they need the same scenario that Missouri and Arizona would need. But unfortunately, while Missouri has one less shot than Arizona, Wisconsin would have one less shot than Missouri. They still need two other teams to lose, but the field gets narrowed now. The two upsets have to come among TCU-Iowa State, Baylor-Kansas State, and Florida State-Georgia Tech.

10. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 10-2 (6-2)

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets need the perfect scenario to have a chance at the College Football Playoff, but after beating Clemson and Georgia, a win against Florida State would be the strongest close to a season of any team in college football. But if they do win, while they would leapfrog Florida State and the loser of the Pac-12, SEC, and Big Ten Championships, the winner of those games stays on top. Then, the Yellow Jackets would need Baylor to lose to Kansas State and TCU to lose to Kansas State. At that point, the Selection Committee would still have to decide between Georgia Tech and Kansas State, so they have some impressing to do.

11. Kansas State Wildcats, 9-2 (6-2)

This is the murkiest one of all because of what Kansas State needs to get through in its own conference. The Wildcats need to beat Baylor first, but then they have to have TCU lose to Iowa State. That is their only chance at anything happening, and even then, there could be four one-loss teams ahead of them. And if all of those teams lose, they still would be to two-loss teams who could be ranked ahead of them. Simply put, the Wildcats don’t just need to win on Saturday. They need to absolutely dominate the Bears in the process to make sure they can leapfrog other teams in the race. This situation is still as murky as ever for the Selection Committee.

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