“So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” (7)
Cincinnati Bearcats (6-0): Cincinnati is a handful of undefeated teams left entering Week 8. Luke Fickell’s team is already bowl eligible, but still has two undefeated teams in its own division left to play in South Florida and UCF. Of those three AAC teams, Cincinnati has the least amount of football pedigree in the Playoff era, so they’ll need a miracle to get in as a Group of 5 undefeated.
Iowa Hawkeyes (5-1): Technically, Iowa is still alive at 5-1 with only one conference loss. However, that loss was to Wisconsin, who has already lost twice this season. The Hawkeyes can certainly win the Big Ten West, but don’t have any real resume boosters left. Even Penn State on the road isn’t a big deal anymore because the Nittany Lions have already lost twice at home this fall.
Kentucky Wildcats (5-1): Kentucky can definitely win the SEC East if they beat Georgia at home in a few weeks. However, seeing this basketball blue-blood contend with presumably Alabama in the SEC Championship doesn’t seem likely. This team is good but needs to prove it can be a 10-win program before it becomes a College Football Playoff contender.
North Carolina State Wolfpack (5-0): North Carolina State is perfect thus far. They will face a juggernaut rival in Clemson next week. The Tigers are favored over the Wolfpack, but an upset win for North Carolina State makes them the new favorite to win the ACC. However, they had a regular season game against West Virginia canceled due to a hurricane and don’t have the football pedigree to get the benefit of the doubt should they suffer one loss and conceivably win a weak ACC.
South Florida Bulls (6-0): South Florida may be perfect, but it’s very, very hard for a Group of 5 team to crash the College Football Playoff party. While they have a better pedigree over division rival Cincinnati, rival UCF has the nation’s attention as the best Group of 5 team. Until the Bulls beat the Knights, nobody will dare to dream of them as a semi-serious Playoff team.
Washington State Cougars (5-1): Washington State could very well win the ultra-competitive Pac-12 North. The Cougars’ only loss is to Pac-12 South team USC. However, USC already has two losses on the season. The Pac-12 doesn’t look to have an elite team in it. Keep in mind that the Cougars still need to play Oregon, Stanford and rival Washington before regular season’s end.
West Virginia Mountaineers (5-1): West Virginia’s Playoff hopes are holding on by a thread after this weekend’s loss to Iowa State in Ames. Losing to a three-loss Cyclones team convincingly is bad, but not the end of the world. What does hurt the Mountaineers is that their non-conference game against still undefeated North Carolina State was canceled due to a hurricane. It could have been a résumé booster West Virginia would have needed to offset a probable conference loss.
So at this time, only 20 teams are still alive for the Playoff. This list will continue to shrink in the coming weeks. It will only be a matter of time before the Selection Committee picks the best four teams. Will it be your favorite team? We will just have to wait and see.