7 teams have A shot at a college football playoff appearance: Here is the path for each team to get there

Last week saw a lot of “almost” upsets in the college football world, as almost every top ranked team had a game that went down to the wire. Most survived, except for Tennessee, who were taken down by unranked South Carolina, effectively eliminating any shot the Volunteers had at a playoff bid. But, after 12 weeks, 7 teams still have a legitimate shot at a top 4 seed and a chance to compete for the national championship. Let’s meet the seven teams, and look at their path to the top four with just 2 weeks left in the season. 

Georgia: The path for the current #1 team in the country is simple: win one of their final two games. Georgia has been dominant all season and will now reap the rewards. Even if they somehow were to lose to Georgia Tech and beat LSU or the opposite, it realistically wouldn’t matter. The committee would still put them in with relatively no hesitation, and the Bulldogs will be in great position to win it all 

Ohio State: The Buckeyes have a 11-0 vs 11-0 rivalry game vs Michigan next week that might as well be considered a play-in game for the College Football Playoff. The path for OSU is to simply win out. Even if they beat Michigan, not winning the conference championship game definitely would hurt them more then it would Georgia, so OSU will need to go a perfect 13-0 in my opinion to see the CFP. 

Michigan: For Michigan it is the same story; win out. This all starts with beating Ohio State this weekend, then winning the conference championship. With their lack of quality wins, one loss could shatter their playoff chances. 

TCU: The Horned Frogs are probably the lowest quality undefeated team left, but are still very good. With how the college football world has been talking about TCU, it feels like they must win out to see the playoffs. In fact, a one loss Michigan/OSU team would probably have a better shot at the playoff then them otherwise. One loss and the so far perfect season will go south very quickly. 

USC: What an intriguing team USC is for the committee to consider. The Trojans just last week finally got their first statement win over UCLA, and now find themselves just two wins away from a possible CFP appearance, although both of those wins will have to come against highly ranked opponents. It goes without saying that USC must win out to have a chance, but the debate really begins when you ask yourself if they need help from other teams. Does the committee value a one loss, non-conference champion Ohio State team over a one loss Pac-12 champion USC? Maybe. Do they value a one loss, non-conference championship Michigan team over a one loss pac 12 champion USC? Now that I don’t think so. So, with that being said, to remove all doubt, USC needs either an Ohio State win or a blowout win for either OSU of Michigan to feel 100% confident. If that OSU vs Michigan game comes goes to the wire, the committee may feel that both of those teams deserve a spot over the Trojans, which is a nightmare scenario. 

LSU: First year head coach Brian Kelly and LSU need quite a bit of help from other teams to sneak into the playoff. First off, they must win out, and even that won’t be easy. They should defeat Texas A&M with ease this weekend, but beating Georgia for the SEC championship will be a lot harder, and they will be heavy underdogs. Even if they do manage to shock Georgia, a 2 loss SEC championship-winning team still needs help considering no 2 loss team has ever made it to the College Football Playoff. The Tigers would first need the committee to do the opposite of what I said they’d most likely do and take Georgia out of the top 4 after LSU beats them, or devalue the loser of the Ohio State and Michigan game. Then, either TCU or USC has to lose their conference championship game. If this rather chaotic scenario happens, LSU would be able to make the CFP as either a 3 or 4 seed, and have a chance at becoming the first 2 loss team to make the CFP. 

Clemson: If you thought LSU’s scenario was chaotic, wait until I present you Clemson’s. First off, obviously, Clemson needs to win out, which would include taking home the ACC conference title. Since the ACC has been simply bad this year, Clemson’s 1 loss is much worse compared to the other 1 loss teams there will be. To make the playoff, Clemson would need Georgia to lose the SEC championship game and drop out of the top 4, have the loser of Michigan/Ohio State be blown out in the process, and have USC or TCU lose their conference championships. The chances such a large amount of high quality teams collapse like this is unlikely, but there’s still a chance, and you never know what can happen. 

The final couple weeks of the college football regular season are set to be one to remember, with every game for each of these teams meaning so much. The final committee rankings will be announced December 4th, with two more rankings announced before then on November 22nd and November 29th.