College Football Playoff: The 17 teams who still have a chance to make the field

The fifth edition of the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings will be revealed Tuesday night.

Before seeing how the people who make the 12-team bracket feel about the teams, we have to ask which programs are still in the hunt. It’s a heck of a lot more than would still be alive at this point in the season during the four-team era.

After the final week of the regular season, the picture has become much clearer. The impending debates and which teams will be involved in them seem all but certain. Last week, there were 22 teams still alive. This week, Texas A&M, Miami, BYU, Colorado and Tulane got cut from the list. Only 17 teams remain alive in the CFP hunt.

Here’s the complete inventory.
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Big Ten

Oregon: The Ducks are the only team in the country who went wire-to-wire without losing. Oregon has been firmly in the College Football Playoff field for a month now. The Ducks will play Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday. That game is for nothing other than who wins the conference.

Ohio State: The world feels like it is ending in Columbus right now because that’s how important the rivalry game against Michigan is. There are plenty of questions about Ryan Day and this Ohio State team after its fourth straight loss to Michigan on Saturday. One of those questions isn’t whether Ohio State will make the Playoff.

Penn State: With Ohio State’s loss to Michigan on Saturday, Penn State punched its ticket to Indianapolis. Penn State has a chance to win the Big Ten, which is huge departure of what was expected out of the Nittany Lions when it lost to the Buckeyes earlier in the year. James Franklin has a chance for a real reputation glow-up here. Penn State, regardless of how it performs against the Ducks, will be in the College Football Playoff.

Indiana: Indiana could have been in a world of hurt had chaos not broken out in the SEC. But the Hoosiers, now 11-0 after a 66-0 beatdown of Purdue on Saturday, seem firmly in the 12-team field. It’ll be interesting to see how Indiana performs in the CFP, especially because half of the country is doubting whether the Hoosiers are worthy. It doesn’t matter. Indiana is in.

SEC

Georgia: Georgia had a closer-than-expected game against Georgia Tech on Saturday night. Had the Bulldogs lost the 8-overtime tilt with Georgia Tech, it would have had to sweat the results of this weekend’s SEC Championship Game against Texas. Georgia, though, is in the CFP whether it wins or loses to the Longhorns.

Texas: Texas got beaten handily the only time it played another national title contender this year, but it added the biggest win to its resume Saturday night with a win at Texas A&M. There is a tremendous amount of pride at stake against Georgia in the sense that a former Big 12 team has an opportunity to win the SEC in its first year in the league. But as it pertains to the Playoff, Texas is firmly in now.

Tennessee: Tennessee felt like it was going to have a hard time getting into the Playoff at this time two weeks ago. But when Ole Miss and Alabama lost two weeks ago, the Volunteers stepped right back into the picture. Tennessee had a tricky game against Vanderbilt this weekend, but it wound up winning comfortably. Tennessee is firmly in at 10-2.

Alabama: A week removed from Alabama‘s embarrassing loss at Oklahoma in which it failed to score a touchdown, the Crimson Tide returned home and took care of Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Alabama is 9-3, but it has a win over Georgia and a strong strength of schedule. Regardless of what happens this weekend, Alabama is going to be in a debate for the CFP’s final spot. The Crimson Tide have a really good chance to win that debate.

Ole Miss: Ole Miss felt like it was in firm control of its destiny when it blew out Georgia at home in the middle of November. But an unexpected loss to Florida dropped Ole Miss back onto the bubble. It’s going to find itself being compared to Alabama head-to-head this weekend. Though the Rebels have a more than valid case, they should be scared to death about how that debate pans out.

Big 12

Iowa State: Iowa State suffered a two-game losing streak in the middle of the Big 12 season, but the Cyclones have been a really resilient team all year. They kept fighting, beat Kansas State and found itself in the Big 12 Championship Game against Arizona State. The winner will be in the Playoff. The loser goes home.

Arizona State: Arizona State is one of the hottest teams in America. The Sun Devils are riding a five-game winning streak and broke through into the Big 12 title game in its first year in the league. All it has to do to make the College Football Playoff is beat Iowa State in Dallas this weekend.

ACC

SMU: In its first year in the ACC, SMU didn’t lose a conference game in the regular season. The Mustangs’ only loss on the season is BYU, which isn’t a bad loss. SMU has punched its ticket to the ACC Championship Game and will face Clemson. If it wins, it’s in. If it loses, it still may be in.

Clemson: When Miami lost to Syracuse on Saturday, that knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC title game. That opened the door for three-loss Clemson, a team who lost to South Carolina on Saturday. Clemson’s only route to the CFP is by beating SMU in Charlotte.

Independent

Notre Dame: Notre Dame kept cruising over the weekend with a win at USC to finish the regular season with 10 consecutive wins. The Irish could have been defined by an embarrassing loss to NIU earlier in the year, but it kept its head down and simply won. Now at 11-1, Notre Dame’s next game will be a Playoff game, probably on its home field.

Group of 5

Boise State: Running back Ashton Jeanty rushed for 226 yards and a touchdown in Boise State’s win over Oregon State last week. Boise State finished the season 11-1 with only a loss to Oregon. It will host UNLV in the Mountain West Championship Game this week as a 4.5-point favorite. Boise State should be considered the favorite to represent the Group of 5 in the Playoff.

UNLV: UNLV was one of the interesting stories of the season, but two heart-breaking Friday night losses to Syracuse and Boise State has knocked the Rebels out of the spotlight. But UNLV kept winning and fought its way back to a rematch with the Broncos. If UNLV pulls off the upset in Boise, it will likely make the Playoff.

Army: Army played Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium on Saturday and was blown off the field. The Black Knights, though, remained unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play and face Tulane in the conference title game Saturday. Army would need to beat Tulane and get some help in the form of a UNLV win to set up a debate with the Rebels come Selection Sunday, but the Black Knights aren’t dead.