College Football Playoff Rankings 2019: Projected final Top 25

Minnesota missed their chance to play for the Big Ten championship after losing the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe against Wisconsin. As a result, they also missed the chance to go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1962. Yet P.J. Fleck’s crew still became the first Golden Gophers team since 1905 to end November with 10 wins.

The College Football Playoff selection committee has not been impressed by Minnesota, however. Only after they defeated Penn State to remain undefeated did the Golden Gophers move up into the top 10 of their Top 25. The first loss to Iowa was largely forgiven, but the committee dropped Minnesota 10 spots from No. 8 to No. 18 after suffering a second loss to Wisconsin.

Still, the Golden Gophers will shuffle somewhere into the mid-to-high teens in the final committee rankings of the 2019 season. A New Year’s Six bowl is out of reach, so their likeliest destination at this point is probably the Outback Bowl. That would mark the first Florida bowl game for the Gophers since 2014, a well-deserved reward for a season that exceeded all expectations after being picked to finish sixth in the seven-team Big Ten West in the preseason media poll.