College Football Playoff: Most crazy outcome in each Power Four conference title race

I broke my brain into a billion pieces this afternoon so you don't have to. Chalk is usually our friend when it comes to forecasting things in the wonderful world of college football. However, we now that this wacky sport doesn't take kindly to chalk. Given the fact that we have not had a slew of upsets in quite a few Saturdays, we are so overdue. What if the college football world lost its collective mind?

To be totally transparent, I kind of did that in trying to figure out this exercise. You come off PTO and you try to do the best you can. Unfortunately, Monday is kicking my ass as bad as Ed Henry did to Coach Yoast in Remember the Titans. While I make a living sweating the small stuff in college football, this exercise broke my brain, bruh, a few weeks before Cody Williams breaks it again on False Start.

So what I am going to do today is try to forecast the most unbelievable Power Four conference title bout matchups possible just slightly more than a month out. I fully expect that none of these four endgame scenarios will play out because I all want in this world is some clarity. All I am trying to do here is prepare you fine folks at home for the unexpected, as I spin all of college football on its head.

Let's start with a league that could get two teams into the playoff, but may only end up with one team.

ACC

SMU Mustangs over Pittsburgh Panthers

Entering Week 10, I only see four teams in the ACC as potential College Football Playoff teams. That would be in alphabetical order Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh and SMU. I like the winner of this Power Four conference to get the No. 3 seed, possibly the runner-up getting an at-large bid as well. I have my reasoning for settling on Pittsburgh vs. SMU as the most chaotic title bout matchup for the ACC.

Pittsburgh is the first most chaotic entrant in potentially going to Charlotte here, as the Panthers would have had to beat both SMU and Clemson en route to 12-0. If they lost a conference game to someone else, maybe they still get there, but I am not entirely sure. The reason I ended up picking SMU as the other opponent would be that the two big brands in Clemson and Miami do not get there.

To really put the College Football Playoff Selection Committee into a frenzy, let's say 10-2 (7-1) SMU beats an undefeated or one-loss Pitt team to win the ACC. That would probably get the Ponies the No. 4 seed, as they lost to BYU previously. How would you then dissect a 12-1 Pitt team or an 11-1 Miami team? Clemson would have two losses in the scenario and would probably be out of the mix.

SMU beating Pitt in a rematch to win the ACC at 11-2 would be the definition of playoff bid stealing.

Big Ten

Penn State Nittany Lions over Indiana Hoosiers

Despite trying to answer a prompt based on a lack of confidence, I feel very confident that only four teams in the Big Ten this year have any realistic shot of making the playoff. In alphabetical order they are Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State. Right now, Indiana, Oregon and Penn State are undefeated, with Ohio State's lone loss being by a point to Oregon. Ohio State plays all three teams.

So in this chaos scenario, we end up with Indiana facing former Big Ten East foe Penn State in Indianapolis with Oregon either suffering a conference loss, or simply not getting to the conference title bout because it does not go their way in the three-team tiebreaking methods. I do not have the bandwidth to forecast any of that right now, but Indiana vs. Penn State would be quite the surprise.

I think to add the most amount of chaos would require Indiana going undefeated and Penn State losing to Ohio State. In this scenario, Penn State would have one conference loss, Oregon would as well and Ohio State would have two. The wackiest result in Indianapolis would be Penn State winning a nail-biter over Indiana to win the Big 12 by handing previously undefeated Indiana its first defeat.

Penn State may not get a top two-seed. Oregon will make the playoff, but what about the other two?

Big 12

Colorado Buffaloes over Kansas State Wildcats

The Big 12 may not be that complicated. Right now, there are four teams with a realistic shot of getting to Arlington. In alphabetical order, it would be BYU, Colorado, Iowa State and Kansas State. BYU and Iowa State are undefeated. Colorado has two losses, but only one in Big 12 play, and that is to Kansas State, whose lone loss on the year was a blowout loss to BYU from well over a month ago.

The most chaotic scenario would require Colorado and Kansas State winning out, BYU dropping two games and Iowa State losing to K-State in Farmageddon. Again, the tie-breaking procedures are too cumbersome at this time to not get my brain into a Dan Wetzel pretzel. The point is Colorado faces traditional rival Kansas State in a rematch in the title bout. The wacky result would be CU winning big.

I think in that situation BYU and K-State would be out of it, but Iowa State would be in the mix as an at-large team at 11-1 (8-1). Since Colorado would get an AQ spot, how sure are we that they would be No. 4? They might be No. 12 with Boise State or whoever ends up winning the Group of Five getting the No. 4 spot. What if Colorado was No. 11 and Iowa State got in as an at-large at No. 10 or No. 12?

Having two Big 12 teams in occupying two of the last spots in would be absolutely bonkers for all.

SEC

Ole Miss Rebels over Tennessee Volunteers

I hope I can do this correctly. The SEC has seven teams still alive to make the playoff in some realistic fashion. In alphabetical order, it would be Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M. Entering Week 10, Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M feel like locks, Tennessee is on the bubble, and Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss essentially need to win out to have any shot of making it in.

I don't know if this is right, but for my chaotic scenario, I tried to envision a way where Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M do not get to Atlanta. That may be borderline impossible, but if there is a will, there is a way. I am not going to waste any bandwidth on Alabama or LSU right now, as that is a playoff elimination game in two weeks. My thought is Ole Miss winning out and Tennessee having one loss.

To get Ole Miss to Atlanta, the Rebels would need to beat Georgia to give the Dawgs two SEC losses, as well as for LSU to lose two more games, Texas to lose a second and for Texas A&M to lose twice in SEC play. The most chaotic scenario involves beating Tennessee whose only loss would be on the road to Arkansas. Ole Miss would get in. Tennessee probably does. The SEC would be in shambles.

The SEC would still get in about four teams, but I have no earthly idea what the combination would be.