Last weekend, a number of top 10 teams lost, and I thought this ended their playoff hopes.
As a Stanford alum, their loss to Oregon was particularly crushing. It gave the Cardinal two losses, and almost everyone thought the Pac-12’s playoff hopes were over.
Not the playoff committee. Stanford dropped to 11th, certainly within striking range of the top 4 by the end of the season.
I predicted a much bigger drop for Stanford in my Sunday morning Bleacher Report column that projects the committee rankings. The same goes for Baylor, Utah and LSU.
Stanford (24%) and Baylor (20%) are very much alive for a playoff spot. For all of my calculations, click here.
I should note that I wrote the Baylor section before hearing that QB Jarrett Stidham might not play against Oklahoma State.
Here are the top 25 of the ensemble rankings (available to members) that drive these playoff odds calculations for Bleacher Report.
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Baylor
4. Oklahoma
5. TCU
6. Clemson
7. Mississippi
8. Oregon
9. Stanford
10. Notre Dame
11. Georgia
12. LSU
13. Florida State
14. Florida
15. UCLA
16. USC
17. Michigan State
18. Mississippi State
19. Wisconsin
20. Auburn
21. Arkansas
22. Oklahoma State
23. Michigan
24. North Carolina
25. Tennessee
It’s not an error that Oregon is in the top 10 or that Iowa doesn’t appear in the top 25.
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