Saturday Blitz
Fansided

College Football Playoff Rankings: Is the Pac-12 already eliminated?

By Gabe Encinas

facebooktwitterreddit

After the initial College Football Playoff rankings didn’t have one Pac-12 team in the top 10, is it already curtains on the conference having a representative in the Playoff this year?

The Pac-12 has proven to be one of the most, if not the most competitive conference in the all of college football. Some might say this is a down year for the Pac-12, owning no top 10 teams in the first College Football Playoff rankings, and only three overall, with Stanford at No. 11, Utah at No. 12, and UCLA at No. 23.

But when you look at how the conference has shaken up, this is just a deep, competitive conference, with no top teams dominating, and no preseason rankings to keep them afloat.

It’s the grueling schedule of the Pac-12, and the parity within each program, that might hold the Pac-12 out of the College Football Playoffs. Looking at every teams remaining schedule, there are no shoe-in wins for any team. The case might be able to be made for Oregon State, but a night game in Corvallis could even spell trouble for someone, ask Arizona State, where they went in as the No. 6 team in the nation and lost, watching their CFP hopes go down the drain.

When you look at Washington, California,Oregon, Arizona State, and now Washington State, all these teams have the potential to knock anyone, and each other off. Colorado has been competitive this season, and if Arizona can get the ship right, they have the potential to knock off Utah in a few weeks, or beat their rivals up north.

More from Oregon Ducks

Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, USC, and UCLA, all had division titles on their minds, but the scheduling, coaching, and injuries, all took a toll on them, falling short of preseason expectations for the most part.

Stanford is realistically the only chance for the Pac-12 to send a team to the College Football Playoffs. Their loss came in week one of the season, on the road, to a decent Northwestern team. Since then, they’ve scored 30+ points in every game, and has had no trouble, with the exception of Washington State.

Looking ahead to their schedule. it’s as favorable as it gets in the Pac-12. A road trip to Colorado, and then back home for Oregon and California. All winnable games, but the parody of the Pac-12 might say otherwise. And then they have a major road block in the final game of the season, Notre Dame. A loss would obviously keep them out of the playoffs, but a win would put the exclamation mark on their season, with the Pac-12 Championship Game the only thing in their way of a Playoff berth.

More from Saturday Blitz

You would think Utah or USC would emerge from the South, and Stanford, already beating USC earlier this season. And when you look ahead to Utah, they have a pretty unpredictable schedule, which makes it hard to believe that they make it out alive, and then take down the Pac-12 North challenger in the Championship Game.

But when you look ahead to some of the top 10 teams, and their remaining schedules, there is a not a lot of room for error. Michigan State, Ohio State, and Michigan all play each other in one form. Baylor, TCU, and Oklahoma State, likewise. Alabama and LSU this weekend, and then the remaining SEC schedule, plus SEC Championship Game.

A lot of top-10 teams will have to lose within the next few weeks, and it’s simply because of scheduling. The Pac-12 is on the outside looking in, and all hopes will lie on the shoulders of the Stanford Cardinal.

Home/Oregon Ducks