Best-case scenarios for all 8 College Football Playoff contenders

After the penultimate College Football Playoff Rankings, here are all the scenarios for all eight teams that are still alive for the national championship. 

We have one week to go before the College Football Playoff field is announced, yet there is still a lot of football to play.

As it stands, there are eight teams still in the mix for the College Football Playoff. Four of them are undefeated: Georgia, Michigan, Washington, and Florida State.

If those four teams win on Saturday in their respective conference championship games, then there won’t be much debate about the final four.

However, there is rarely chalk in college football. This season has been missing chaos and maybe, just maybe, it will wait until the final week to be unleashed.

What happens if Alabama beats Georgia or Michigan loses to Iowa? Is there a shot for Texas or Ohio State to get in without multiple defeats by others?

It’s hard to know exactly what the College Football Playoff committee will do. Yet, they did leave some hints in the final rankings which are: Georgia, Michigan, Washington, FSU, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, and Alabama — in case you hadn’t seen them.

So how does each team make or miss the College Football Playoff? I try to break down every scenario below for all eight playoff contenders.

1. Georgia

Georgia might be in with a win or a loss on Saturday. The Bulldogs have three wins over top-25 teams, although just one of those games was on the road. Alabama didn’t look great last weekend, but Michigan didn’t look good against Maryland and still beat Ohio State.

A blowout loss is probably the only way Georgia gets left out. But it’s going to be a tough debate, especially with Texas. It will be hard to put Alabama in over the Longhorns since Texas won that matchup head-to-head.

And if Alabama isn’t in over Texas, how could Georgia get in over Texas? And what if Michigan, Florida State, and Washington all win? Plus Alabama beats Georgia? And Texas wins?

In that scenario, Michigan and Washington are in, and Florida State probably is too, unless the committee just puts Georgia and Alabama in ahead of Texas and FSU.

All that said, outside of just winning, losses by Texas and Florida State would just about guarantee UGA a berth regardless of what happens in Atlanta.

Best-case scenario: Just win