TCU is now the Big 12’s only College Football Playoff hope

Unless TCU can run the table, it’s hard to see a Big 12 football team making the College Football Playoff after Saturday’s blowout loss by Oklahoma State. 

Just when it looked like a couple of Big 12 football teams could work their way into College Football Playoff contention last week, Oklahoma State and the league got a dose of reality on Saturday.

It’s funny because, after the win over Texas, I said it was time to take the Cowboys seriously as a College Football Playoff contender, assuming they could win out. I didn’t think a win at Kansas State would be easy. However, I didn’t expect a 48-0 loss either.

That was the largest deficit of the Mike Gundy era and it happened as Kansas State was playing with its backup quarterback Will Howard, who torched the Cowboys for 296 yards and four touchdowns. Deuce Vaughn also ran wild and Kansas State proved that it’s still a team to be reckoned with in the Big 12 title race.

Yet, with the loss to Tulane in non-conference play and two overall, the playoff dream is dead for the Wildcats and now after the loss by Oklahoma State, the only Big 12 football team with any hope is TCU.

TCU should be a top-6 team in the College Football Playoff Rankings

TCU got a battle from West Virginia on Saturday but the Horned Frogs improved to 8-0 thanks to another Heisman-worthy performance by Max Duggan. All the guy does is throw touchdowns. He led TCU to four straight wins over ranked earlier this season and now has them 8-0.

Duggan did throw an interception but his team scored 41 points on the road against West Virginia in a 10-point win and he completed 16-of-28 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns.

It will be interesting to see where the College Football Playoff rankings have TCU ranked but with wins over Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, I feel like they deserve to be ranked above Alabama and maybe ahead of Clemson. It’s close. At least in the top six.

I believe they should be ranked in the top five. Michigan might also deserve to be in front of them (we’ll see after Michigan State), but outside of the Big Ten teams and SEC teams, if they remain undefeated, no one should be ranked above the Horned Frogs.

Alabama would change that if it ran the table and won the SEC title. Clemson also has the edge in terms of AP voters. We’ll see if that translates to the playoff rankings but with so many top-6 teams potentially squaring off down the stretch, TCU is in good shape.

As long as it stays undefeated. If the Horned Frogs lost a game, there will need to be lots of chaos, otherwise, no Big 12 football team will make the playoff.

What’s clear is they are the Big 12’s only hope.