How each of the eight teams left can make field

There are still eight teams in the mix for the College Football Playoff and a number of ways things could unfold over the final weekend of the regular season, from ho-hum predictable to burn-it-all-down chaos.

With pivotal matchups still to come − beginning with Georgia and Alabama and a rematch of Washington and Oregon − the playoff race could eventually settle into an easy and uncontroversial top four.

Or things could spiral out of control. Sharpen those pitchforks, just in case.

With the clock ticking on the regular season, these are the big questions facing the playoff and how the top four could look come Sunday:

Can Ohio State get back into the playoff?

A year ago, Ohio State lost to Michigan by 22 points but still backdoored into the playoff and nearly upset Georgia in the Peach Bowl. The landscape this year is dramatically different, leaving the Buckeyes with only a narrow avenue for a top-four finish − but there is a way.

Here are the steps:

Georgia beats Alabama. That takes the Crimson Tide out of the equation.

Michigan beats Iowa. An Iowa win would make the Buckeyes the third-place team from the Big Ten, an easy disqualifier for the committee.

Washington beats Oregon. Losing the rematch would knock the Ducks out of contention.

Louisville beats Florida State. This upset would be the biggest piece of the puzzle for Ohio State.

Oklahoma State beats Texas. This would hand the Longhorns a second loss.

This scenario would leave unbeaten Georgia, Michigan and Washington as the top three seeds. The fourth spot would then come down to five non-conference champions: one-loss teams in Ohio State and Florida State and two-loss teams in Oregon, Alabama and Texas.

The argument would then settle on the Buckeyes and Seminoles. This is a debate that would favor Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the playoff rankings for multiple…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-playoff-scenarios-eight-121028568.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2023-11-27 12:10:28

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