College Football Playoff Rankings 2021: Projected Top 25, Week 14

Is Billy Napier’s time in Louisiana limited? Probably, but he may finish his Ragin’ Cajuns career with an 11-1 season which will be finally good enough to be ranked in the final College Football Playoff poll. Louisiana needed to hold on to beat a bad UL Monroe team, but you have to be impressed with 11-1 and the Ragin’ Cajuns will enter the Top 25 with UTSA’s departure.

Sam Pittman absolutely deserves to be mentioned among the finalists for the national coach of the year award and after beating Missouri in dominant fashion in the finale, the Razorbacks finished the season 8-4. Just a couple of years after it looked like Arkansas was going to forever be in the gutter, Pittman has turned it into a winning program, recording eight victories for the first time since 2015.

Houston got a nice “bye week” to end the regular season, facing UConn on the road. The Cougars had already secured an AAC title game appearance, but they handled the Huskies as well, winning 45-17 against the 1-11 team. The Cougars finish the regular season 11-1 and have a chance to shock Cincinnati in the conference title game, knocking the Bearcats from the playoff.

Nothing like a rivalry blowout to end the regular season and when you finish 9-3 with a shutout on the road of your rival, you have to feel good about your season. Unfortunately, expectations are much higher at Clemson. Finishing 9-3 was disappointing, but the Tigers bounced back from a nightmare start to the season and they’ll move up slightly in the rankings.

Down 17-7 at halftime, Texas A&M needed a big second half in Death Valley in order to beat an LSU team fighting for a bowl berth. The Aggies came back and held a 24-20 lead, but they were ultimately not able to hold off LSU, losing 27-24 on the road. Jimbo Fisher has a heck of a recruiting class coming in, so the Aggies will undoubtedly start next season as a top-10 team.