4. The Really Big Thing Was …
Now the Big 12 is really, really finished.
There you go, SEC. After what happened this week when TCU beat Texas and Iowa State got by Oklahoma, just assume you can get two teams in if a few one-loss options are available, and/or an unbeaten conference champ, too.
There you go, ACC. It might be possible for Notre Dame and Clemson to get in if they split games – the first in South Bend, and maybe if they play a rematch in the ACC Championship – with their only losses being against each other.
The Pac-12 doesn’t play a big enough schedule to warrant a sure-thing spot in the CFP if the conference champ is 7-0, and the Big Ten will need its champion to be an unbeaten 9-0 to reserve a spot.
The Group of Five? Nah. More on that in the Most Underrated Thing section.
Who’s left? The ACC is a big winner, and so is the SEC, and in reality, so is the Big Ten. That’s all because the Big 12 al but opted out on the 2020 college football season.
Oklahoma State is the lone remaining unbeaten team in the Big 12, and it’s been way shaky so far. The blowout win over Kansas was nice, and this is a good enough team to make a whole lot of noise, but is it good enough to run the table with Texas, Oklahoma, and Iowa State still out there? Almost certainly, no.
Forgetting what the Sun Belt did to destroy the conference, Oklahoma is out, Texas still can’t find a defense, and everyone else has an embarrassing blemish.
Parity is nice, and the Big 12 games have certainly been fun, but that’s about it.
The CFP race among the five power conferences is all but reduced now to four.
– Winners & Losers From Week 5
– Most Overrated Thing
– Most Underrated Thing
– What It All Means, Week 5