Tag: College football playoff 2020

College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 10

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Next week it’s really on when the Pac-12 adds its two-cents into the mix.

As always, the ground rules for this are 1) win your Power Five championship and go unbeaten and you’re almost certainly in, or 2) finish with one loss and a Power Five championship and you’re probably in, or 3) lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten or ACC and as long as that’s it, you have a shot.

Everyone else is playing for the joy of college football.

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a chance

With a short season, go 7-0 with a Pac-12 championship and there’s a shot. 6-1 and ehhhhhhh.

Pac-12
Arizona, Cal, Utah, Washington

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

These teams are either Power Five programs with multiple losses or Group of Five programs with one loss. Also being added is any Pac-12 team with a loss – there’s no chance with the league’s short schedule.

Unless something insane happens, these 83 teams are out of the College Football Playoff hunt.

ACC
Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

American Athletic Conference 
East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Navy, SMU, Tulane, Temple, Tulsa, UCF, USF

Big Ten
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers

Big 12
Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia,

Conference USA
Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA, WKU, (Old Dominion not playing in 2020)

Independents
Army, (New Mexico State, UConn not playing in 2020. UMass

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio,

Mountain West
Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Pac-12
Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA

SEC
Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Sun Belt
Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, ULM

– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Group of Five hopefuls

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 9

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Next week it’s really on when the Pac-12 adds its two-cents into the mix.

As always, the ground rules for this are 1) win your Power Five championship and go unbeaten and you’re almost certainly in, or 2) finish with one loss and a Power Five championship and you’re probably in, or 3) lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten or ACC and as long as that’s it, you have a shot.

Everyone else is playing for the joy of college football.

– Teams That Haven’t Played Yet
– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot at the College Football Playoff

No. Just … no.

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a chance

With a short season, go 7-0 with a Pac-12 championship and there’s a shot. 6-1 and ehhhhhhh.

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 8

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

With the Big Ten and Mountain West now a part of the mix, this gets even more interesting.

As always, the ground rules for this are 1) win your Power Five championship and go unbeaten and you’re almost certainly in, or 2) finish with one loss and a Power Five championship and you’re probably in, or 3) lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten or ACC – at least this year, at the moment – the Big 12 – and as long as that’s it, you have a shot.

Everyone else? This year, probably not, so …

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot

All of these teams will be in the hunt for an automatic New Year’s Six bowl slot if one goes unbeaten, but it’ll take something historically weird to get any sort of consideration for the College Football Playoff.

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West 
Colorado State, New Mexico

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a chance

Some might be longer shots than others, and some might be totally unrealistic, but if any of these teams go unbeaten with a conference championship, they’re almost certainly going to be in.

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 7

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Starting with the unwritten rules of the College Football Playoff …

1) Win your Power Five championship and finish unbeaten, and you’re in. And yes, this will go for the Big Ten. The Pac-12 is a little iffy, though, with a six-game regular season, Go 7-0 with a conference title, and the Pac-12 will at least be on the doorstep.

2) Win your Power Five championship and finish with one loss, and in normal times you’re close to being a mortal lock. This year, the SEC champ is in with one loss no matter what, but it’s not so sure a thing across the board. This will be addressed in a moment.

3) Lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten, or this year, the ACC, with that one loss coming to a conference champion who’s off to the College Football Playoff. That’s how Alabama got in on the way to a title in 2017. Or, be dominant and have one loss that was by crazy circumstances, like Ohio State in 2016 despite losing to Penn State.

4) Win your Group of Five conference championship, go unbeaten, and pray for a whole lot of luck. We have yet to have a season with a slew of two-loss Power Five champions, but that’s what it would take for an unbeaten Group of Fiver to get in.

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot

All of these teams will be in the hunt for an automatic New Year’s Six bowl slot if one goes unbeaten, but it’ll take something historically weird to get any sort of consideration for the College Football Playoff.

Conference USA
Rice

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West 
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a chance

Some might be longer shots than others, and some might be totally unrealistic, but if any of these teams go unbeaten with a conference championship, they’re almost certainly going to be in.

Big Ten
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 6

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

As always, the unwritten rules of the College Football Playoff have to be taken into account …

1) Win your Power Five championship and finish unbeaten, and you’re in. And yes, this will go for the Big Ten. The Pac-12 is a little iffy, though, with a six-game regular season, Go 7-0 with a conference title, and the Pac-12 will at least be on the doorstep.

2) Win your Power Five championship and finish with one loss, and in normal times you’re close to being a mortal lock. This year, the SEC champ is in with one loss no matter what, but it’s not so sure a thing across the board. This will be addressed in a moment.

3) Lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten, or this year, the ACC, with that one loss coming to a conference champion who’s off to the College Football Playoff. That’s how Alabama got in on the way to a title in 2017. Or, be dominant and have one loss that was by crazy circumstances, like Ohio State in 2016 despite losing to Penn State.

4) Win your Group of Five conference championship, go unbeaten, and pray for a whole lot of luck. We have yet to have a season with a slew of two-loss Power Five champions, but that’s what it would take for an unbeaten Group of Fiver to get in.

With all of that in mind, this is broken down into five categories.

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot

All of these teams will be in the hunt for an automatic New Year’s Six bowl slot if one goes unbeaten, but it’ll take something historically weird to get any sort of consideration for the College Football Playoff.

Conference USA
Rice

Independents
UMass

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West 
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a chance

Some might be longer shots than others, and some might be totally unrealistic, but if any of these teams go unbeaten with a conference championship, they’re almost certainly going to be in.

Big Ten
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive
– Unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 5

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

It’s all a bit of a guess, but here’s how the unwritten College Football Playoff rules should still work, even in 2020 …

1) Win your Power Five championship and finish unbeaten, and you’re in. And yes, this will go for the Big Ten. The Pac-12 is a little iffy, though, with a six-game regular season, Go 7-0 with a conference title, and the Pac-12 will at least be on the doorstep.

Don’t make this too hard – the CFP committee isn’t going to want to get funky if there’s an unbeaten Power Five champ there to select.

2) Win your Power Five championship and finish with one loss, and in normal times you’re close to being a mortal lock. This year, the SEC champ is in with one loss no matter what, but it’s not so sure a thing across the board. This will be addressed in a moment.

3) Lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten, or this year, the ACC, with that one loss coming to a conference champion who’s off to the College Football Playoff. That’s how Alabama got in on the way to a title in 2017. Or, be dominant and have one loss that was by crazy circumstances, like Ohio State in 2016 despite losing to Penn State.

4) Win your Group of Five conference championship, go unbeaten, and pray for a whole lot of luck. We have yet to have a season with a slew of two-loss Power Five champions, but that’s what it would take for an unbeaten Group of Fiver to get in.

With all of that in mind, this is broken down into five categories.

– Teams that haven’t played yet, but …
– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive … technically
– The unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot

This year, considering the lack of non-conference games, just winning a Group of Five title won’t be enough, no matter what.

All of these teams will be in the hunt for an automatic New Year’s Six bowl slot if one goes unbeaten, but it’ll take something historically weird to get into the College Football Playoff.

American Athletic Conference
Houston, Temple

Conference USA
Rice

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West 
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a shot

Some might be longer shots than others, and some might be totally unrealistic, but if any of these teams go unbeaten with a conference championship, they’re almost certainly going to be in.

Big Ten
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive … technically
– The unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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College Football Playoff Chase: Who’s Still Alive After Week 4

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff? Where does every college football team stand?

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Even in this craziest of seasons with the wackiest of scenarios, here’s how the unwritten College Football Playoff rules should still work …

1) Win your Power Five championship and finish unbeaten, and you’re in. And yes, this will go for the Big Ten, and this will almost certainly go for a Pac-12 team that wins seven games and then its championship (maybe).

Don’t make this too hard – the CFP committee isn’t going to want to get too funky if there’s an unbeaten Power Five champ there to select.

2) Win your Power Five championship and finish with one loss, and in normal times you’re close to being a mortal lock. This year, the SEC champ is in with one loss no matter what, but it’s not so sure a thing across the board. This will be addressed in a moment.

3) Lose one game in the SEC, Big Ten, or this year, the ACC, with that one loss coming to a conference champion who’s off to the College Football Playoff. That’s how Alabama got in on the way to a title in 2017. Or, be dominant and have one loss that was by crazy circumstances, like Ohio State did to get in despite losing to Penn State in 2016.

4) Win your Group of Five conference championship and go unbeaten, and pray for a whole lot of luck. We have yet to have a season with a slew of two-loss Power Five champions, but that’s what it would take for an unbeaten Group of Fiver to get in.

With all of that in mind, this is broken down into five categories.

– Teams that haven’t played yet, but …
– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive … technically
– The unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

[jwplayer IoO8SIHX]

Teams that haven’t played yet, but really don’t have a shot

This year, considering the lack of non-conference games, just winning a Group of Five title won’t be enough, no matter what.

Let’s not kid ourselves. These teams can go unbeaten, be amazing, and they might be allowed to watch the College Football Playoff on TV. However, all of these teams will be in the hunt for an automatic New Year’s Six bowl slot if one goes unbeaten.

American Athletic Conference
Houston, Temple

Conference USA
Florida Atlantic, Rice

MAC
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami University, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West 
Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Teams that haven’t played yet, but have a shot

Some might be longer shots than others, and some might be totally unrealistic, but if any of these teams go unbeaten with a conference championship, they’re almost certainly going to be in.

Big Ten
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Pac-12
Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

– Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam
– The Group of Five hopefuls
– One-loss teams still alive … technically
– The unbeaten College Football Playoff contenders

NEXT: Finished. Done. Let’s go take a steam …

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5 College Football Playoff Scenarios: 20 for 2020 Offseason Topics No. 1

Five preseason College Football Playoff scenarios: 20 for 2020 key college football offseason topics.

20 for 2020: 20 key college football offseason topics, No. 1: Five preseason College Football Playoff scenarios

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

20 for 2020 Offseason Topics 
20. Best Teams To Not Make CFP
19: Teams That Will Rebound Big
18. Teams That Will Fall Back
17: Every Power 5 Team’s Letdown Game
16. Top 5 Instant Impact New Head Coaches
15. 2nd Year Coaches Who’ll Be Better
14. Power 5 Hot Seat Coach Rankings
13. Key Transfers You Forgot About
12. Five Big Power 5 Upset Alerts
11. Great Players About To Go Nuclear
10. Group of 5 Teams In New Year’s Six Chase
9. Power 5 Sleeper Teams
8. Most Interesting Quarterback Battles
7. 5 Teams That Might Disappoint
6. 5 Teams That Might Surprise
5. Group of Five Conference Ranking
4. Power 5 Conference Ranking
3. Top Non-Obvious Heisman Candidates
2. 5 Nutty Predictions That Might Be Right

We’ll keep on doing what we do whether or not there’s a season, but all thoughts go out to those suffering and struggling, and to all the health care workers battling above and beyond the call. Please … stay safe.

If there’s a College Football Playoff, who’s going to be in the thing?

There’s nothing fluky about a College Football Playoff national championship. Maybe you can get there with a relatively light schedule and a few big breaks – Utah and Baylor almost did it last year – but if it was so easy, a whole lot of others would be able to do it.

After six years, we sort of know how this all goes.

1. Go unbeaten and win your Power Five conference championship, and you’re in. It would take a historic anomaly – like all five conference champs going 13-0 – to miss out.

2. Go 12-1 with a Power Five conference championship, and realistically, you’re in. 2018 Ohio State is the first and only one to be left out.

3. Be an 11-1 powerhouse Power Five team that lost one tough battle, and  you have a chance. You need help, but you can get there like 2016 Ohio State and 2017 Alabama.

Other than that, be Notre Dame and go 12-0 – and get a little help – and it can be done. The Group of Five programs, though, have yet to crack the code, and there has yet to be a two-loss team in the CFP.

With all that in mind, if we’re able to get a season this year, here are five possible College Football Playoff scenarios.

CFN in 60: 5 Possible College Football Playoff Scenarios
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5. College Football Playoff Scenario: The Chalk

Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma

There are two ways to look at this.

Either you have powerhouse fatigue and you’re bored of seeing the same teams over and over again – even LSU didn’t seem all that new, considering it was the SEC Champion – or you’re geeked out that these four programs are killers and should make for a strong tournament.

Could Oklahoma finally get over the hump and get into the national championship? Is it possible for Alabama to win a third one of these after not getting it done the last two seasons?

Will Clemson be able to come through with a third national title in five years, or could Ohio State get back to the CFP national championship in its fourth trip in seven playoffs?

Even if it’s not these four exact teams, if it’s any SEC champion, maybe a big-time Big Ten champ, and even a second SEC team in to go along with Clemson, it would be a whole lot of fun.

We’ll go into the problem if it’s anything other than a four-team powerhouse chalk CFP in a moment, but first …

NEXT: College Football Playoff Scenario: First Time Teams

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Path To The Playoff: Clemson’s 5 Steps To The College Football Playoff

What’s does Clemson have to do to get to the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff? What’s the path?

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What’s does Clemson have to do to get to the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff? What’s the path?

The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will be played on January 1st, 2021, and the College Football Playoff National Championship will be in Miami on Monday, January 11th.

What does Clemson have to do to get into the fun for a sixth straight season? What are the five steps in the Path to the Playoff?

Path to the College Football Playoff, Step 1

The every-other-year pattern isn’t a bad thing.

The 2016 team went into the offseason really, really mad.

For all the fun and games around Dabo Swinney and the program, there appeared to be a serious business attitude that offseason after Deshaun Watson and company lost a thriller of a national championship to Alabama. There was a loss to Pitt along the way, but the Tigers went on to roll through Ohio State and then beat Bama for the CFP championship.

The 2017 team was good enough to earn the No. 1 playoff seed – despite a loss at Syracuse – and was dumped by the Crimson Tide in the CFP semifinal Sugar Bowl.

The 2018 version got back an ultra-motivated defensive front, welcomed in Trevor Lawrence, and ripped through just about everything in its path – at least after a scare from Syracuse – for a 15-0 season and a national title.

So last year’s team came up short against an epic-hot LSU team in a dream season – hardly any shame losing to that team.

Clemson knows how to dial it up that extra notch a year after a disappointment, and all that national title loss might mean is that the beast is angered.

Of course, it helps when you come up with great recruiting class after great recruiting class to restock the shelves. Even so …

NEXT: The area the Tigers need to work on will be …

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