Played in/Played out: Rise of the Power Five newcomers
Paste BN Sports is keeping careful tabs on how each week's wins and losses impact the eventual makeup of the inaugural College Football Playoff. If the season ended today, here are three teams moving into the championship picture and three moving out.
Teams that played their way in:
Utah. The Utes are becoming a factor in the Pac-12 Conference race by virtue of a productive defense, a punishing running game, just enough of a passing attack and a flair for the dramatic, as shown in the team's last two outings: Utah took out Oregon State in overtime on Oct. 18 and stole a victory from USC with the game-winning score with eight seconds left. Now 6-1, the Utes can look toward next week's game at Arizona State as vital not just to their divisional hopes but — and let's at least admit the possibility — the potential of wearing the Pac-12 crown and battling Oregon for a spot in the Playoff.
TCU. Eighty-two points? Eighty-two points. Yeah. 82 points. The Horned Frogs held nothing back in an 82-27 win against Texas Tech, setting a new Big 12 Conference record for points in a game during league play and taking another step forward in the Playoff race. Style points? Eighty-points will do that. TCU has long housed a defense; the Horned Frogs now have an offense. Add the two together and you have the ingredients needed to win the Big 12 and compete for a Playoff berth.
West Virginia. Let's acknowledge that West Virginia needs some help: At least two other major conferences would need to have a two-loss champion, for starters, to even place the Mountaineers in the mix for one of the four spots. But WVU, now 4-1 in league play after winning at Oklahoma State, is among the three or four teams in the Big 12 with a legitimate shot at the conference title — and, by running the table the rest of the way, present an interesting case to the selection committee.
Teams that played their way out:
Mississippi. Welcome to the land of the one-loss teams, Rebels. The disappointing parts about Saturday's 10-7 loss, in particular order: Ole Miss is no longer unbeaten, the Rebels only scored a touchdown, the Rebels had chances to pull away early and late, Ole Miss should have won, Mississippi State did win, and it's a crowded race for positioning among the many one-loss teams across the Football Bowl Subdivision. There's coming back from this, however, but it's easy to punch your ticket as an unbeaten. Now, with several major games ahead — including the Egg Bowl – Ole Miss is playing from behind.
Ohio State. Needing two overtimes to take care of Penn State isn't a good look for the Buckeyes, who must regroup in a two-week span before matching up with Michigan State on Nov. 8. Put in simple terms: The showing against the Nittany Lions won't cut it against the Spartans. In Ohio State's defense, this team has improved from each potential hurdle; this dates to the preseason, when the Buckeyes took on and moved past Braxton Miller's season-ending injury. That bodes well for any night-and-day turns before tripping to East Lansing. Yet even Urban Meyer would admit that his team has some work to do.
Minnesota. It was never going to happen anyway. Saturday's loss to Illinois merely made it official. Now 6-2 and with a murderer's row ahead — Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Nebraska — the Golden Gophers are now thinking more about seven or eight wins, not a magical run to the top of the Big Ten.