As we look ahead to another important week of college football, there are questions about what the 12-team College Football Playoff will look like when it's all said and done the first week in December.
We've still got three weeks of regular season games to decide which teams will lock up conference championship bids, and of course, there's the question of who we'll see in those seven at-large bids.
There are the favorites to get to the College Football Playoff: Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Tennessee, Indiana, BYU, and Boise State. There are also the "likely" teams, such as Georgia, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Miami, and Alabama. But, then we've also got a mix of fringe teams that will be competing for a spot, especially as we head down the strtech of the season.
Here's a look at five teams that could "backdoor" their way into the 12-team College Football Playoff.
It will be interesting to see where Deion Sanders' bunch is ranked in the second set of College Football Rankings, which will be released on Tuesday night. Regardless, Colorado has now set itself up nicely to compete for a playoff spot.
Who would have thought that would be the case just a few weeks ago when the Buffaloes dropped their second game — a loss to Kansas State — and seemed to be on the outside-looking-in for the Big 12 race, much less for a playoff spot.
Now, Colorado has a chance to finish out the year with a 10-2 record and the Buffaloes control their own destiny in getting to the Big 12 Championship game. If they beat BYU, they'll lock up a top-four berth in the playoff.
With two losses already, Colorado likely can't afford to lose in the Big 12 championship and still make it, but the fact that the Buffs weren't even ranked in the Top-25 a couple of weeks ago and now we're talking about them as a potential playoff team.
No Pac-12? No problem for Washington State.
The Cougars are currently sitting with an 8-1 record and were ranked No. 21 in the initial College Football Playoff Rankings. It's near impossible that Washington State earns an at-large bid outside of the Group-of-5 berth, but the way things are shaping up right now, the Cougars would only need Boise State to lose once more for them to be the highest-ranked Group of 5 team.
How crazy would that be?
It's not likely by any stretch of the imagination, but if Washington State finishes 11-1 and Boise State were to lose one more — the Broncos have SJSU, Wyoming, and Oregon State remaining — the Cougars would move ahead of them and earn a College Football Playoff bid.
Well, that's if this next scenario doesn't come to pass.
The team outside of Boise State that could cause the biggest disruption to Washington State's playoff chances is the Army Black Knights.
Army (9-0) is undefeated and they've got two weeks to prepare for the biggest game of their season. Honestly, this will be one of the biggest games in their program's history.
Army will travel to Notre Dame on Saturday, November 23 in what couldl be a College Football Playoff elimination game. If the Black Knights were to pull off a victory in South Bend, they would vault up the rankings and, honestly, they'd be set up to jump Boise State regardless of if the Broncos lost again or not.
If Army wins out — and that would include a win over Notre Dame and then likely Tulane or Navy in the AAC Championship — the Black Knights absolutely should be in the College Football Playoff. You can't leave a perfect 13-0 team out and there would likely be discussions about the possibility of two Group of 5 teams getting in at that point. Would it happen? Likely not, but still, Army is one of the teams with the greatest chances of backdooring their way into the playoff.
After a blowout loss to Louisville two weeks ago, Clemson was left for dead in the College Football Playoff race.
The Tigers have a long way to go in getting back to being in contention, but a backdoor entry has now been made possible. How, you ask? The Miami Hurricanes' massive upset loss to Georgia Tech this past weekend.
Miami still will hold the tiebreaker over Clemson if the two teams win out, but the Hurricanes are now feeling the pressure. Miami has Wake Forest and then a trip to Syracuse left to close out the season. If Clemson beats Pittsburgh this weekend, the Tigers will just need the Hurricanes to lose one of those to make it to Charlotte.
In addition, Clemson can hope that SMU loses two — Boston College, UVA, and Cal — and that would get Dabo Swinney's club into the ACC Championship game, as well. If Clemson somehow gets to Charlotte, watch out. The Tigers under Dabo Swinney have owned that venue against ACC opponents, so Miami and SMU better take care of their business now if they want a playoff bid.
There's an outside shot that Clemson could factor into the at-large conversation with a win over South Carolina — who will be ranked this week in the new CFP rankings — and a 10-2 overall record. However, it's very congested at the top and it would likely take some chaos for that to happen.
Before the Georgia game this past weekend, everyone had already written off Ole Miss. Now, the Rebels are going to see a big jump in the College Football Playoff rankings and they now have a chance to be a legitimate at-large threat.
Ole Miss is part of a group of SEC teams currently with one or two losses. Tennessee and Texas currently sit at one loss, while Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, and Ole Miss all have two losses.
So, the question is: How many SEC teams will be in the College Football Playoff rankings? Only time will tell, but we think it's a guarantee at this point that the conference will at least get four bids, and there will be a push for them to get more than that.
Ole Miss has just two games remaining — at Florida and vs. Mississippi State — and the Rebels should absolutely win both of those. If they finish 10-2, it's going to be hard to keep them out of the playoff, especially when you consider their resume that includes wins over Georgia, South Carolina, and LSU.
Ole Miss's defense has had its flaws at times this season, but no one can doubt the danger of that high-octane offense led by Jaxson Dart and that host of playmakers.
The next set of College Football Playoff rankings will be released at 8:30 p.m. E.T. on ESPN.