Saturday delivered a gut punch, showing exactly why we can’t go wild after the first College Football Playoff rankings drop. Week 10 saw six matchups between top-20 teams, and then Ohio State went and dropped an upset loss at home to Oregon. All told, seven teams with legitimate playoff hopes took a loss this weekend. And get this: only No. 1 Miami can still breathe easy, their playoff hopes relatively safe. The other six? They all just suffered either their second or third defeats. Forget “wiggle room,” especially for those four contenders now staring down their third loss with just three weeks left in the regular season. It’s tough to see more than one or two of these squads even sniffing the national title picture anymore.
Missouri’s Playoff Hopes Are About as Slim as It Gets
Let’s kick things off with No. 18 Missouri, who probably has the smallest shot at making the playoff out of any of the top-20 losers this past Saturday. The Tigers, sitting at 6-3, lost 34-20 to No. 7 Texas. Yeah, Mizzou *could* still make the playoff at 9-3, but the odds of them heading to No. 2 Georgia and pulling off a win are incredibly slim. Especially after watching how they absolutely *choked* away chances against Texas. Sure, a lot of close replays didn’t go their way. But come on, they missed two field goals and racked up a grand total of 16 yards on their four drives after Texas tied the game at 20-20. That’s just not getting it done. Their remaining games: a brutal trip to Georgia, then home games against No. 6 Kentucky and Oklahoma. Good luck.
LSU’s Lane Kiffin Experiment Staring Down a 7-5 Nightmare
Then there’s No. 14 LSU, also 6-3, who got absolutely throttled 31-13 by No. 5 Alabama. Can you honestly trust these Tigers to win their remaining three games? A win over Alabama would’ve put them in a great spot, probably needing to split games against Texas and Tennessee and beat Arkansas to get in. Now? They *need* to beat both No. 7 Texas and No. 13 Tennessee. Those wins *might* get them to 9-3 and a playoff berth, especially if they snag that win over Texas. But if those games are losses? LSU is staring straight into a dismal 7-5 campaign. And let’s be real, that’s not what anyone had in mind after the school and the state threw everything at Lane Kiffin to get him to Baton Rouge. They still have Texas at home, then road trips to Tennessee and Arkansas. Big questions ahead.
Ohio State Needs a Miracle After Oregon Upset
And finally, the big one: No. 12 Ohio State, also 6-3, who dropped a shocker at home, losing 41-28 to No. 23 Oregon. The Buckeyes are probably going to be favored in their next three games: home against Northwestern, a road game at Nebraska, and then the big one, home against Michigan. But here’s the kicker: even if they win out and hit 9-3, they’re gonna need a *ton* of help. Why? Because unlike those three-loss SEC teams around them in the rankings, Ohio State doesn’t have a stacked schedule of ranked opponents left. Their strength of schedule just won’t be helping them out like it might for the others.
The college football landscape just got a whole lot clearer for the bad, if you’re a fan of these three teams. The margin for error is gone, and the road ahead looks impossible for most.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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