Playoff Rankings - Week 5

Last week we came in at #6 in the College Football Playoff rankings, with the five ahead of us being Alabama, Miami, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. Now, after a weekend that saw the top two teams in the country lose, tonight’s rankings should go pretty much like this:

And so they do... except we jumped a little higher than I expected.

Here are the full rankings:

So, with one weekend of football left, what does this all mean? Well, it’s pretty simple.

Here are your playoff teams:

• SEC Champion - Auburn/Georgia
• ACC Champion - Clemson/Miami
• Big 12 Champion Oklahoma
• Big 10 Champion Wisconsin

Now, the winners of the SEC and ACC are in. I don’t know if there’s a situation that would see either of those conferences get left out. In the Big 10 and Big 12 is where it gets interesting. We’ll start with the Big 12, where Oklahoma meets TCU for the conference title at noon on Saturday.

With the almost-assured Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma’s been fantastic all year long, losing only to Iowa State, which isn’t a bad loss at all. TCU’s already got two losses, one to Iowa State, and a thrashing at the hands of the Sooners a few weeks ago. If TCU wins, it’s hard to see them getting into the Playoff since there are only a couple of open spots and likely teams ahead of them. As Auburn fans, we’re pulling for the Sooners so that they fill up one of those other spots and so that we may get a shot at them and that Baker Mayfield again this year.

In the other game that matters, it’s also pretty cut and dry with one outcome. If the Badgers win, they’re in, and we’re set for the Playoff. If Ohio State beats Wisconsin, though, it gets sticky. All week we’ve heard the discussions trying to dissect the differences between Ohio State and Alabama. The Buckeyes have more losses, but they’d have a conference title in this situation. Alabama doesn’t have a division title, but they also didn’t lose by 31 at Iowa. Both arguments have their merits. To make it nice and clean for us, let’s just pull for Wisconsin and call it there.

It’s hard to see there being an absolute chaos scenarious this weekend, and even if both Oklahoma and Wisconsin lose, it won’t be the nuclear mayhem that some people are looking for. There are at most two spots in play, and that’s stretching it if you think Ohio State gets in with a win.

We’ll just have to see. All that matters for us is another victory over Georgia. Do that, and Gus Malzahn has won his second SEC Championship as a head coach, and he would’ve done it in the toughest environment for Auburn football in roughly 40 years.

War Eagle, Beat Georgia.