On Tuesday Night, the College Football Playoff committee will unveil their penultimate set of rankings sending us into Championship Sunday with a clear idea of where each team stands. This set of rankings is arguably the most important as we’ve already seen most teams play their last game before bowl season begins.
When the rankings are revealed on Tuesday Night, there are several key factors to watch for. The coaching carousel took Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss, Texas pulled off the biggest upset rankings wise, and the ACC is setting up for a chaotic finish.
These 4 questions will be answered by the Playoff committee
How does Lane Kiffin's departure affects Ole Miss' ranking?
On Sunday, Lane Kiffin's time in Ole Miss came to an end as he departed Oxford for Baton Rouge, and he won't get to coach this team in the College Football Playoff. Most likely, Ole Miss at worst would've stood pat as the 7th-ranked team in the Country if not moved up after Texas A&M's loss. After Lane Kiffin left and took a massive chunk of the offensive staff with him, it'll be interesting to see if Ole Miss is punished and how bad it could be.
Does JMU make the Top 25, setting up ACC chaos?
If you’re looking for chaos on conference championship Saturday, James Madison and Duke are the teams to root for. If James Madison can finally break into the Top 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings it would confirm that the committee does view them as better than 7-5 Duke. That would then set James Madison up to make the Playoff if they can win while a Duke win in the ACC would make the Dukes one of the 5 highest ranked conference champions.
Who's safe with a loss in Conference Championship weekend?
The committee's rankings on Tuesday Night will tell us just how safe each team is if they are to lose their conference championship games. The team currently in the field who could be in the most trouble is Alabama as a loss by the Crimson Tide could bump them out of the Playoff field allowing BYU, Miami, or Utah to make the move.
How high does Texas jump?
The biggest win of rivalry weekend came when Texas handed Texas A&M its first loss of the season. The Longhorns enter tonight as the 16th-ranked team in the playoff committee's rankings, but they could rise to a point where they are in play if they get help this weekend. It's going to be very hard for a 3-loss team to make the Playoff, but Texas has a good enough resume to make it a conversation.