5 teams that could upset the 2017 College Football Playoff picture

After losing Colorado, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Nebraska, the Big 12 brought in a pair of unlikely new conference members in TCU and West Virginia. For several years, the league was the only Power Five conference without a championship game. After the NCAA stopped requiring two divisions to host a title game, though, the Big 12 is bringing back its annual finale this season.

The game will pair the top two teams in the standings, and that could make for any number of interesting pairings. As was anticipated at the announcement of the game’s resumption, it could also doom the Big 12 to another College Football Playoff-free season in 2017. That is especially true if Oklahoma and TCU suffer another league defeat.

In that case, West Virginia could be playing for the conference title this season. The Mountaineers lost to Virginia Tech in the season opener, and they have two conference losses against TCU and Oklahoma State. If the Mountaineers win out over Kansas State, Texas, and Oklahoma, they would likely climb up into one of the top two spots.

Having already taken down ranked Texas Tech and Iowa State squads, Dana Holgorsen’s squad could be the ultimate disrupter this season. Getting to the title game would set them up to ruin the entire conference’s season. A title for West Virginia wouldn’t be enough to get them into the College Football Playoff, but it would be enough to eliminate the Big 12 from the picture.