The regular season in college football has come to a close and, with it, the finalization of the College Football Playoff résumé for nearly every FBS program outside of the select few still in action on conference championship weekend.
So, who is in and who’s out in the chase for the golden trophy?
Enter The Eliminator, where we’re cutting teams and seeing which ones still have a chance to play for the national title. We’re locking in teams to the playoff field as well. Here’s where things stand after Week 14.
College Football Playoff field after Week 14
Playoff Locks
Seven teams, 58% of the bracket
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Oregon
- Texas Tech
- Georgia
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
Alive for a playoff bid
18 teams, 14% of FBS
- ACC (3)
- Big 12 (2)
- Big Ten (3)
- SEC (6)
- Independent (1)
- American (2)
- Sun Belt (1)
Teams eliminated after Saturday
- Pittsburgh
- SMU
- Utah
- Michigan
- Navy
Out of the playoff chase
118 teams, 86% of FBS
- ACC (14)
- Big 12 (14)
- Big Ten (15)
- SEC (10)
- Independent (1)
- American (12)
- CUSA (12)
- MAC (13)
- Mountain West (12)
- Pac-12 (2)
- Sun Belt (13)
ACC
Alive: Virginia, Duke, Miami
The doomsday CFP scenario for the ACC remains in play: Duke knocks off Virginia in the conference title game in Charlotte and falls behind James Madison in the committee’s rankings. Then Miami gets left out as an at-large and nobody from the ACC makes the field. Can you imagine the reaction to that happening? It might produce almost as much uproar as the Hurricanes being the first team out and seeing Notre Dame as the final at-large.
Eliminated: Pittsburgh, SMU
It’s too bad we didn’t have all of the ACC games impacting the conference title game race kick off at the same time—soccer style. It would have been interesting to see if some teams would have either tried harder to win or given up well in advance on Saturday. Either way, it was a tough trip to the Bay Area for SMU, which understands those Pac-12 After Dark memes a lot better after experiencing one in person by losing to California. It was all right there for the taking by the Mustangs, too, but they never could get that final stop to send them back to the league championship game.
Out: Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Big 12
Locks: Texas Tech
The Big 12 has trended toward being a one-bid league for two months. But it’s time to move the Red Raiders firmly into the bracket no matter what the result is on Saturday in the conference championship game in Arlington, Texas. Tech has been well respected by the committee throughout the process, and it’s difficult to see them dropping completely out of the playoff from the No. 5 seed if they were to lose to a team they already blew out this season. Far more likely is that Joey McGuire’s team wins at AT&T Stadium to book a return trip for the quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl.
Alive: BYU
The Cougars used social media to mock former BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian’s comments after he started stumping for Texas’s inclusion into the playoff, but the funny thing is that this group has just as strong of a case to make the field as it did last year. They can put any debate to rest fully on Saturday if they win the conference title—and give the committee quite the headache to debate just a few miles up the road.
Eliminated: Utah
The Utes really did nothing wrong in going on the road and knocking around Kansas to finish the season at 10–2, but missing out on the Big 12 championship game on tiebreakers puts a nail in their playoff bid. They were already behind Miami in the CFP rankings and figured to be passed by Vanderbilt and Texas on Tuesday. Still an impressive bounce-back season in Salt Lake City but not playoff worthy out of the Big 12.
Out: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, UCF, West Virginia
Big Ten
Locks: Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon
The good news is that the Big Ten has locked in three bids and two are bound to be quarterfinalists. The bad news is there are only three teams from the conference as several other at-large contenders faltered down the stretch. That said, all three of the league’s playoff teams are capable of winning it all so a third straight national champion isn’t out of the question even with fewer teams in the bracket than last season.
Eliminated: Michigan
The Wolverines still have a shot at getting a 10th win in their projected warm-weather bowl game next month, but the team had a lot of empty calories in what was otherwise a decent (but flawed) rebuilding campaign under Sherrone Moore. Naturally that loss to the Buckeyes at the Big House stings because of the manner of the defeat, but it could be just the thing that the coaching staff can use to address some of the team’s weaknesses via the portal this offseason.
Out: Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington, Wisconsin
SEC
Locks: Georgia, Mississippi, Texas A&M, Oklahoma
The bigger question the SEC faces this weekend may simply be one of seeding as it seems pretty assured it is getting five bids in 2025 unless chaos breaks out at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday. A Georgia win in the league title game would send it to the Sugar Bowl with a quarterfinal bye and the three others in this group are all in line for a home game (with the possible exception of Ole Miss).
Alive: Alabama, Vanderbilt
The Crimson Tide are likely the conference’s fifth team in the bracket but they are not yet considered a lock. For one, there is the possibility of injury: What if Ty Simpson goes down in the SEC title game like Carson Beck did with the Bulldogs last year? More intriguing, what if Bama just gets blown off the field by a Georgia team it already beat? That wouldn’t completely disqualify the Tide from the playoff, but it opens the door to further debate with Miami, Vandy and a few others. The Commodores seem to have hit a glass ceiling because they’re Vanderbilt and not a more well-respected name brand. They sure looked like a playoff-caliber team at Tennessee even if their only solace may be sending Diego Pavia to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony now.
Eliminated: None
Out: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
Independent
Alive: Notre Dame
Irish star tailback Jeremiyah Love exited the blowout against Stanford with a rib injury. That didn’t stop the coaching staff from making sure it did everything it could to make the score look better than it should have been. Notre Dame still isn’t a lock to make the field despite this 10-game run it is on and has to root hard for Texas Tech on title game weekend.
Out: UConn
American
Alive: Tulane, North Texas
It’s hard to sum up the past few weeks better than saying that a playoff bid will be on the line Friday night between two head coaches who will no longer be the head coach at their school next season. Luckily both Eric Morris and Jon Sumrall will stick around for the CFP run depending on who emerges victorious in one of the few games with real stakes for both sides.
Eliminated: Navy
Salute to the Midshipmen for taking care of business on Thanksgiving against Memphis to at least give themselves a shot going into the weekend. It’s tough to have such a good season come up just short, but at least they still have a great shot to sing second, and it does not impact the CFP in some bizarre way now.
Out: Army, Charlotte, East Carolina, FAU, Memphis, Rice, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa, UAB, UTSA
Conference USA
Out: Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State, Western Kentucky, Missouri State, Liberty, Delaware, Louisiana Tech, Florida International, UTEP, New Mexico State, MTSU, Sam Houston
MAC
Out: Miami (Ohio), Central Michigan, Ohio, Buffalo, Western Michigan, Toledo, Ball State, Kent State, Akron, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, UMass
Mountain West
Out: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawai’i, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming
Pac-12
Out: Washington State, Oregon State
Sun Belt
Alive: James Madison
There’s a chance! The Dukes were massive California fans last week and will be massive Duke fans Saturday should they celebrate a Sun Belt title on Friday night. The program will be keenly aware of the committee rankings on Tuesday because that’s where they could get the biggest boost to its CFP odds should it finally break into the Top 25 and signal that two Group of 5 teams are a possibility for the field this year.
Out: Coastal Carolina, Marshall, Old Dominion, App State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Southern Miss, Troy, Arkansas State, UL Monroe, Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Playoff Eliminator: Which Teams Are Out or Alive for a Berth After Week 14.
