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Greg McElroy makes definitive claim on Big 12 landing multiple College Football Playoff teams

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•11/05/24
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Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday night, and the Big 12 might just be in a precarious position.

BYU checked in inside the playoff field, at No. 9 overall. But after that it was relatively slim pickings for the conference.

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In fact, as ESPN played with its College Football Playoff predictor to see what results might impact BYU and send the Cougars higher, not much changed even with wins over some of the toughest remaining opponents.

“Win over SMU, win over Kansas State, a convincing one over Kansas State I might add,” analyst Greg McElroy said. “Let’s say they win this week at Utah, it only affects them (a little).”

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The conclusion was fairly straightforward for the ESPN panel, with most of the hosts agreeing with McElroy.

There isn’t a ton of firepower left on anyone’s schedule to really send teams soaring up the rankings. Meanwhile, losses could prove catastrophic.

Could the league only have one representative in the College Football Playoff, its conference champion?

“I’m also kind of starting to get the sense, and I’m not sure that this is some drastic conclusion that we’re jumping to here: I think the Big 12 is getting one team in,” McElroy said. “I mean if there’s one thing I’ve learned about all of this, the Big 12, I thought there was a possibility that if BYU ran the table and lost in the Big 12 title game they could still get an at-large in. I don’t see that happening right now with where the conference stacks up and who they stack against.”

Iowa State checked in at No. 17 in the rankings, while Kansas State was No. 19 and Colorado was No. 20.

BYU plays none of those teams, and that deprives those teams of the potential opportunity for a marquee win that might boost them up in the College Football Playoff rankings considerably. So it’s a sword that cuts both ways.

In any case, BYU looks to be in good position to make the field, with games remaining at Utah, against Kansas, at Arizona State and against Houston.