Can the Colorado Buffs/Pac-12 get into the national title conversation
Colorado RB Philip Lindsay and the Buffaloes have a gigantic game with Washington State on Saturday in Boulder.
By Rich Winter
As the college football regular season draws to a close, and teams scramble for one of the four coveted playoff spots, one thing is clear, only Alabama is a lock and we have a lot of football to be played, and a mess of football teams trying to squeeze into the three remaining slots.
Heading into last weekend the proverbial top-4 were Alabama, the winner of Michigan vs. Ohio Sate, Clemson or Louisville (maybe both) and perhaps Washington out west. But then, Michigan lost to Iowa and USC throttled Washington and Clemson lost to Pittsburgh and....
All hell breaks loose!
Louisville got crushed by Houston on Thursday night, and while the bad loss probably knocks the Cardinal out of the final-4, with just one conference loss, and the chance to run the table, and win the ACC Championship game vs. Virginia Tech even the Cardinal might not be dead heading into the homestretch.
While you could hear a pin drop for support of anyone from the Pac-12 making the final-4 after Washington fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, east of the Missouri River, if #10 Colorado beats #22 Washington State (in Boulder) and then beats #12 Utah (in Boulder) and Washington remains with just one loss, either a most unlikely Colorado team or a one-loss Washington squad will have a case after winning the Pac-12 championship game.
Somehow, Oklahoma has ground their way back into the conversation, but at No. 9 in the rankings, and without a Big-12 title game, still, the Sooners probably find themselves on the outside looking in.
While Bama is in from the SEC, barring any setbacks along the way, it looks like another SEC team, Florida, 7-2 or Auburn, 7-3 are just too far back in the rankings to make a run.
Which leaves us with what is a messy race in the Big-10. Heading into this weekends games, Ohio State and Michigan have just the one loss. One of those powers is going to find itself eliminated come Thanksgiving weekend, but, there is Penn State at No. 9, 8-2 looming if anyone falters, and, on the other side of the Big-ten Bracket is Wisconsin at 8-2. With some heavyweight games coming up in the next few weeks and a Big-ten championship to eliminate one of the contenders, could the Big-ten still get two teams in?
All told there are about 11 contenders for the last three slots. Even Utah, should they run the table, with wins over Colorado and then Washington to close the season would have an argument if they won the Pac-12 championship.
No matter how ya slice it and how the chips fall, someone is getting in with two losses - Who will it be? 2 Ohio State 9-1 3, 3 Michigan 9-1, 4 Clemson 9-1 2, 5 Louisville 9-2 1, 6 Washington 9-1 2, 7 Wisconsin 8-2, 8 Penn State 8-2 , 9 Oklahoma 8-2, 10 Colorado 8-2, 11 Oklahoma State 8-2, 12 Utah 8-2
Hold on tight college football fans this thing is about to get bumpy!
