7. Iowa Hawkeyes (6-1)
Iowa is in the College Football Playoff if … it wins out and gets a wee bit of a break. The Purdue loss is hardly a plus, but if it runs the table and wins the Big Ten Championship at 12-1, everything should be okay.
The College Football Playoff committee has left out Big Ten champions before, but the league is too strong to keep the conference out this season.
It’s all going to go wrong against … at Wisconsin on October 30th is scary, and it’s possible Nebraska’s bowl game/season finale will be on November 26th when the Hawkeyes come to town.
Will Iowa get into the College Football Playoff? If it doesn’t get bitten somewhere else along the way, whatever is lurking in the Big Ten Championship will probably be the end.
However, the program was a goal line stop away from getting into the CFP in 2015 – and it would’ve been annihilated by Alabama – and might just be in that position again.
Ranking the teams alive for the College Football Playoff
UTSA | San Diego State | Coastal Carolina
SMU | Texas A&M | Auburn | Ole Miss
Notre Dame | Kentucky | Cincinnati
Baylor | Pitt | NC State | Wake Forest
Ohio State | Oregon | Penn State | Iowa
Michigan State | Oklahoma St | Michigan
Alabama | Oklahoma | Georgia
Bowl Projections | CFN Rankings