19. Auburn Tigers (5-2)
Auburn is in the College Football Playoff if … it wins out. Auburn and Texas A&M are in the same boat – sort of.
To win all the remaining games and take the SEC Championship would, should, and could be enough to get in. However, Auburn is in better shape because its second loss was at Penn State, not to another SEC team.
Beat Ole Miss, and win at Texas A&M, and beat Mississippi State, and South Carolina, and take down Bama, and it’s on to the SEC Championship. Beat – most likely – Georgia in a revenge game for the 34-10 loss, and it’s almost a lock to be the first two-loss team to get in.
It’s all going to go wrong against … any one of those games just listed. It would take something unbelievable for everything to work out, but that’s the point. It’s such a brutal slate that finishing 11-2 with an SEC Championship should make the Tigers a lock.
Will Auburn get into the College Football Playoff? Not even close, but at least the opportunity is there. Unlike every other multi-loss team, there actually is a path. It’s not a realistic one to get in, but it’s there. Unlike Texas A&M, Auburn might control its own destiny.
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