Alabama losing to LSU is great news for Pac-12 playoff hopefuls Oregon, Utah

With the Alabama Crimson Tide losing to the LSU Tigers, it opens the door to the College Football Playoff for either the Oregon Ducks or the Utah Utes.

When one door closes, another one opens. While making the College Football Playoff looks to be a long-shot for a team like the Alabama Crimson Tide, who just lost at home on Saturday to the LSU Tigers, it has become all the more realistic for the two best teams in the Pac-12 in the Oregon Ducks and the Utah Utes.

Alabama lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with LSU and won’t make it to the SEC Championship even if the Bayou Bengals were to somehow drop a game the rest of the regular season. At this point, Alabama’s best win might be against a two-loss Auburn Tigers team at season’s end, and that’s if Auburn survives the Georgia Bulldogs next week at home.

So unless Georgia beats an undefeated LSU team in the SEC Championship, should they even meet in Atlanta in early December, we may not be getting SEC teams into the College Football Playoff after all. Alabama could still get in as an at-large team, but that doesn’t seem all that promising at this point. But a one-loss Pac-12 champion, yes, it looks like that team is getting in.

If Oregon were to win out, the Ducks would have gone 11-1 (9-0) during the regular season. They would have done the unthinkable of going a perfect 9-0 in Pac-12 play and their only loss would have been to Auburn on the last play of the game in a neutral-site affair Labor Day Weekend. If they win the Pac-12 North and beat presumably Utah out of the Pac-12 South, they’re getting in.

If Utah were to win out, the Utes would have gone 11-1 (8-1) during their regular season. A road loss to the USC Trojans isn’t great, but the College Football Playoff Selection Committee will let you lose to a division rival on the road early enough in the season. If they win the Pac-12 South and beat presumably Oregon out of the Pac-12 North, they have to like their chances of getting in.

Overall, the Ducks have a slightly better chance over the Utes getting. They will face each other in theory at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for likely the No. 4-seed in the 2020 College Football Playoff. The winner would theoretically edge out the Big 12 Champion between the Oklahoma Sooners or the Baylor Bears and probably Alabama as an at-large one-loss non-champion.

With both Alabama and the Penn State Nittany Lions losing on Saturday, that means a few things will happen with the updated College Football Playoff Rankings. Penn State falls out of the top-six after losing to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Alabama will drop at least to No. 4 and maybe even out of the top-six entirely, but we should expect the Tide to be one of the first two out.

Teams like LSU, the Clemson Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs may move up a spot or two because of Penn State and Alabama’s defeats. Guess who else might be moving up? Oregon from No. 7 and Utah from No. 8. The Ducks should be one of the first two teams out and Utah may come in at No. 7. Either way, the Pac-12 is in a great position to get in with two teams ahead of them falling.

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