Washington State Football: Cougars hold PAC-12’s last Playoff hopes
Pass the test against the Stanford Cardinal on the road in Week 9 and Washington State football is firmly in the College Football Playoff picture.
Coming into the 2018 campaign, the PAC-12 looked to have numerous contenders for the College Football Playoff if all went well. Out of the PAC-12 South, the USC Trojans were considered the favorite during the preseason and the Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins held dark horse positions. Meanwhile, No. 14 Washington State football was not considered to be at the top of the PAC-12 North.
Now, neither of those three aforementioned PAC-12 South lead either hold a lead in the division or even hold a winning record. The Utah Utes own the outright lead in the PAC-12 South right now, but don’t have a shot at the College Football Playoff.
At this point, the only team left from the PAC-12 North that is left in Playoff contention is the Washington State Cougars. A huge win over the Oregon Ducks in Week 8, where ESPN’s College GameDay was on campus in Pullman, pushed Washington State football to the brink of the Playoff race on the national stage.
Washington State football is getting pushed by a fringe Heisman contender in the former transfer quarterback Gardner Minshew. In need of less than 300 more passing yards to reach 3,000 on the season, Minshew is putting up outrageous and completely unexpected numbers this year. He also has 25 total touchdowns and just six interceptions this fall.
The lone loss for the Cougars this season came against USC by a three-point margin on the road. That is forgivable if some chaos transpires around the rest of the Power Five conferences and Washington State is able to win out. The wins over Oregon and Utah look pretty impressive now too.
The remaining slate for Washington State looks pretty treacherous, but it also gives them the opportunity to improve the Playoff resume. A season-ending battle with No. 15 Washington in the Apple Cup tops off a road that also entails No. 24 Stanford and Colorado on the road.
Next. 5 teams on upset alert in Week 9. dark
A final hurdle sits for Washington State, if it wins out, in the PAC-12 Championship Game. That matchup looks to come against either Utah or USC now. Yet, the PAC-12 South has nothing but fluctuation so far in 2018. All in all, Washington State is the last legit hope for the PAC-12 to get into the Playoff this season.