Following the first college football playoff rankings by the committee, we now have a better understanding of the contenders for the college football playoff. Unfortunately, I have had to eliminate some teams based on this ranking (sorry Toledo). As much as I would love a G5 school to get in, it’s probably not happening. 15 teams remain in the hunt as some, like Penn State, cling to life and hope for some outside help. Teams like Arizona and Iowa State have forced me to consider adding teams back into the race, but it’s still early for that.

Week 9 Eliminations: Marshall, Troy, Toledo, USF, Memphis, NC State, Michigan State, Texas A&M

Week 10 Elimination Games:   #13 Virginia Tech at #10 Miami; #5 Oklahoma at #11 Oklahoma State

All of these teams have a loss already, besides Miami. The Hurricanes haven’t proven their worth yet this year and with just one loss, would likely find themselves out of the playoff race. Especially if Virginia Tech goes on to win the division. For Virginia Tech, the one loss to Clemson doesn’t hurt them too bad, but they would need to win out and defeat Clemson in the ACC Championship to remain alive.

As for the Big 12 matchup, everything in this conference is falling apart. There are so many quality teams that they keep beating each other and hurting their own playoff chances. Even if Oklahoma comes out of this one victorious, they would still have to beat TCU. An Oklahoma State win would move them into the top two of the Big 12 standings with them still needing to defeat Iowa State and then win a rematch against Oklahoma or TCU in the Big 12 Championship game.