College Football Playoff Eliminator: Week Five Edition
October 01, 2019 | Sports,
By Justin Parmer
As things start to heat up in the conference races, so does the heat increase for the teams on the bubble. With only a mere 26 teams remaining, let’s take a look at who’s still in, who’s hanging on for dear life and who’s shot at a college football playoff spot has come to an end.
Regular Season Elimination Method
Group-of-five Method (and any independent not named Notre Dame)
- Suffering a single loss on the season
Power-five Method (and Notre Dame)
- Losing two games
- Losing to a group-of-five school
- Losing to an FCS school or lower
- Losing a game by 30 or more points.
Teams remaining safe (14)
ACC (2)
Clemson, Wake Forest
Big Ten (5)
Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
Big 12 (2)
Baylor, Oklahoma
SEC (5)
Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Florida
On the brink of elimination (12)
Arizona State (3-1)
Arizona State just keeps on surprising everybody. You gotta hand it to them, they have played some solid football over the past month. The Sun Devils did just enough to beat the Golden Bears Friday night. This not only save the Sun Devils this week, but also secures their spot on the bubble next week, thanks to a week 6 bye. They’ll need that rest, because Washington State and Utah are no pushovers. Even then that might not be enough for the Sun Devils to have a shot by week 9. If nothing else, the Sun Devils are in a great position to get a bowl game.
California (3-1)
The eliminator goes to bed at night pondering about this game. The eliminator questions its code that it sought out at the beginning of the season, but the eliminator also said the previous week that if California lost, they would be out along with most of the Pac 12. Does the eliminator go with code or simplification preferences? The eliminator decided it would be best to stick with the rules it had put forth at the beginning of the season.
To be fair to the Golden Bears, they put up one heck of a fight against Arizona State at home. They probably even win this game if a healthy Chase Garbers played in the second half. Alas, that was not the case. Once the sophomore quarterback went down, the California offense grinded to a halt, letting the Sun Devils get away.
The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time as the Golden Bears now have to go to Autzen Stadium in a week 6 elimination game, against the Pac 12 favorite Oregon Ducks. The eliminator also forgot to mention, Oregon is coming off of their bye week. If the Golden Bears want to make it to their bye week with an outside shot at the college football playoffs, they need to call upon the powers of Pac 12 after dark. Otherwise, the Holiday Bowl awaits.
Kansas State (3-1)
Kansas State made the most of their non-conference schedule. Two cupcakes and a solid win against Mississippi later and it looked like the magic in Manhattan might be back. Quite possibly a top 20 ranking. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Cowboys had other plans.
Simply put, Kansas State was outclassed all game long in Oklahoma State territory. They were underprepared and outgunned by Cowboys. This is what happens when you schedule cupcakes kids. You become unprepared for conference games. As for the Wildcats, it’ll be do or die next week, when the Baylor Bears visit.
Michigan (3-1)
Oh, so the eliminator is supposed to be impressed with your 52-0 nuclear blowout? What you did was the equivalent of beating up a pillow. You beat Rutgers. That is nothing celebrate. Take your free win and get out of the eliminator’s sight. We’ll see how good you really are against Iowa.
Michigan State (3-1)
Michigan State, how did you almost lose to Indiana? Should the eliminator be concerned about your playoff hopes? If the Spartans can barely beat the Hoosiers, how are they going to beat Penn State, or Michigan, or Ohio State?
Speaking of Ohio State, guess who Michigan State gets to play next week? Spoiler alert, you’re playing in the horseshoe. This might be it for Michigan State’s playoff hopes.
Notre Dame (3-1)
So, based off of the past two weeks, the eliminator can say with confidence, Notre Dame is good. How good, is the question we’ll likely be asking all the way up until bowl season. But a solid victory against an undefeated Cavilers squad should solidify the Irish’s place inside the AP poll and the playoff race.
Oklahoma State (3-1)
Oklahoma State looks really good this season. Scary good. Coming off a close showdown with the Longhorns, the Cowboys proved themselves capable of beating the 24th ranked Wildcats. Or was it that the Wildcats were extremely overrated. Meh, it’s a win no matter how you slice it, and in convincing fashion too. With their victory against Kansas State, the Cowboys will have one more test against Texas Tech before going into the bye. That game should be a good one.
Oregon (3-1)
Bye week. No changes.
Texas (3-1)
Bye week. No changes.
Utah (3-1)
People were questioning whether or not Utah should belong inside the top 25 after their loss to USC a week ago. Oh, they made sure to make a statement out of Washington State at home. How big, you may ask. Try 38-13 with Tyler Huntley throwing 334 yards and tacking on three touchdowns. The eliminator would say that is a strong statement going into the bye week. Yeah, the eliminator doesn’t see the Utes going anywhere anytime soon.
Virginia (4-1)
The Cavs gave it all they had to take down the Irish. Bryce Perkins in particular played phenomenally game with 334 yards and two touchdowns. Yet, it wasn’t enough take down the Irish. The good news for Virginia fan’s: that was the toughest game Virginia will have to play. Virginia might be on this bubble until the conference championship game.
Washington (3-1)
Washington also saw the opportunity to make their statement against USC this week. The box score doesn’t do this game justice either. Washington dominated the Trojans all game long and lifted their foot off the gas. The defense in particular, was rock solid, all game long, especially with that pick 6 in the third quarter.
However, unlike the Utes, Washington still has three more games they have to play before getting to their bye week. And it’s no easy schedule either. The Huskies will have to go on the road, back to back weeks against Arizona and Stanford. If Washington is still a one loss team after that, then a dance with the Ducks at home will likely decide the fate of the North. October will be the true test for any playoff hopes the Huskies may have.
Eliminated (8)
Boston College
Method of elimination: Two losses
The eliminator is still confused. How in the world did Boston College get blown out by Kansas? The Eliminator is still trying to figure that question out two weeks later. Regardless after coming off of a “week 4 bye” against Rutgers, Boston College made it a fight against the undefeated Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Rallying back from a 10-0 deficit in the first quarter, it seemed as though the Eagles would earn another week on the bubble on paper. Even though the Eagles had an opportunity on the final drive, a turnover ended any and all hopes for Boston College. You know what could have prevented this Boston College? Not losing to Kansas 48-24.
Iowa State
Method of elimination: Two losses
Remember when people thought that the Cyclones would be playing spoiler? Well Texas and Oklahoma are still on the schedule so that may still happen. But the Cyclones won’t be able to play spoiler in the college football playoffs. Truth be told, the Cyclones shouldn’t have been near Baylor in the box score. Yet, Iowa State made their matchup against the Bears a competitive game. It just wasn’t enough to make it a winning one.
Mississippi State
Method of elimination: Two losses/blowout
If you were to ever look at Charles Darwin’s Social Darwinism theory, the SEC West would be a great example of such theory. Mississippi State is a bottom tier team, scrapping for every win possible. Then there are the Auburn Tigers, a team that preys on these smaller teams. Mississippi State had no response for their Tiger overloads, thus suffering their second loss on the season, and thus being eliminated from the college football playoffs.
Nebraska
Method of elimination: Two losses/blowout
The eliminator warned you. The eliminator warned yawl the Cornhuskers would be turned into Ohio State popcorn. Nebraska being a top 25 team. What a hilarious joke that was. What Ohio State did to the land of Nebraska was a barbarian attack. Show no mercy, pillage all valuables, raze everything to the ground, and salt the earth so that any talks of Nebraska being good going forward will not bear fruit. They also enslave your hopes and dreams. Have a nice day Nebraska fans.
North Carolina State
Method of elimination: Two losses
NC State was only really here for the non-conference cupcakes, weren’t they? The bad news for the Wolfpack, you cannot schedule Ball State eight times a year. It showed once again when an unprepared Wolfpack marched into Tallahassee and proceeded to get completely walloped by a Florida State team that already has two losses on the season. That is twice now this season that North Carolina State loss in humiliating fashion. More than enough for the eliminator to cross North Carolina State off the list of teams vying for a playoff spot.
Texas Tech
Method of elimination: Two losses/blowout
Talk about a team going from being one of the few teams in the Big 12 without a loss, to being eliminated in three weeks. Even with a bye week for the Red Raiders, it was all for not. Jalen Hurts toyed with Texas Tech for three quarters and the Red Raiders had no response. Once again Red Raider fans, you do have a light at the end of the tunnel. Also known as college basketball.
Virginia Tech
Method of elimination: Two losses
Talk about a bad week for the ACC. Three teams going down the drain just like that, Virginia moving near elimination and Clemson almost losing to UNC. Virginia Tech just so happened to be the one to get the chaos rolling. How chaotic? How about losing to Duke by 35 points at home? Yeah that’ll do it. Virginia Tech has had a similar path as North Carolina State, by going through a weak non-conference schedule early on. The eliminator gets going for the easy road to a $3,000,000 bowl game that nobody bothers to attend. However, what people fails to realize is that playing cupcakes will get you nowhere when it comes to preparing teams for conference play. Virginia Tech didn’t get this memo. We’ll see Tech compete in the… Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.
Washington State
Method of elimination: Two losses
Even though the Pac was spared from the fate of total elimination, somebody had to take the dive. That so happened to be Cougars. Washington State stood toe to toe with the Utes for the first half, but that was all they could muster. It was all downhill, once the second half began. Kind of reminds the Eliminator of another game this season where the Cougars looked terrible in the second half. No, it’s not like this fate could have been avoided if they held on to a lead in a previous game. Nope definitely not blowing a 32-point lead to Chip Kelly.
Total number of teams Eliminated: 104
Elimination games
The following games are elimination games, because no matter who wins, one team will meet a criteria that will deem them unworthy of entering the college football playoffs. Here are the elimination games for week two. All times are eastern standard time.
10/5 California vs Oregon (8:00 PM)
Previously Eliminated
Week 4:
Navy (AAC)
Louisville (ACC)
North Carolina (ACC)
Northwestern (Big Ten)
TCU (Big 12)
Arkansas (SEC)
Kentucky (SEC)
Texas A&M (SEC)
Week 3:
Pittsburgh (ACC)
Illinois (Big 10)
Indiana (Big 10)
Maryland (Big 10)
Colorado (PAC 12)
USC (PAC 12)
Stanford (PAC 12)
South Carolina (SEC)
Week 2:
Cincinnati (AAC)
Tulane (AAC)
Miami (ACC)
Syracuse (ACC)
Rutgers (Big Ten)
Kansas (Big 12)
Oregon State (Big 12)
West Virginia (Big 12)
Northern Illinois (MAC)
Western Michigan (MAC)
Vanderbilt (SEC)
Week 1:
Houston (AAC)
Duke (ACC)
Florida State (ACC)
Georgia Tech (ACC)
Purdue (Big 10)
FAU (Conference USA)
Middle Tennessee (Conference USA)
Kent State (MAC)
Miami (OH) (MAC)
Mississippi (SEC)
Tennessee (SEC)
UCLA (Pac 12)
Week 0:
Arizona (Pac 12)
Preseason:
Connecticut (AAC)
East Carolina (AAC)
Memphis (AAC)
SMU (AAC)
Temple (AAC)
UCF (AAC)
Alabama-Birmingham (Conference USA)
Charlotte (Conference USA)
Florida International (Conference USA)
Louisiana Tech (Conference USA)
Marshall (Conference USA)
North Texas (Conference USA)
Rice (Conference USA)
Southern Mississippi (Conference USA)
Texas San-Antonio (Conference USA)
Western Kentucky (Conference USA)
Akron (MAC)
Ball State (MAC)
Bowling Green (MAC)
Buffalo (MAC)
Central Michigan (MAC)
Eastern Michigan (MAC)
Ohio (MAC)
Toledo (MAC)
Air Force (Mountain West)
Boise State (Mountain West)
Colorado State (Mountain West)
Fresno State (Mountain West)
Hawaii (Mountain West)
Nevada (Mountain West)
New Mexico State (Mountain West)
San Jose State (Mountain West)
UNLV (Mountain West)
Utah State (Mountain West)
Wyoming (Mountain West)
Missouri (SEC)*
Appalachian State (Sun Belt)
Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt)
Georgia State (Sun Belt)
Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)
Louisiana (Sun Belt)
Louisiana Monroe (Sun Belt)
South Alabama (Sun Belt)
Troy (Sun Belt)
Texas State (Sun Belt)
Army (Independent)
BYU (Independent)
Liberty (Independent)
New Mexico State (Independent)
UMass (Independent)
*Missouri is bowl ineligible but is currently in the appeals process.
Edited by Emma Moloney | ehm3gd@mail.missouri.edu