The College Football Playoff Rankings will be released on Tuesday, but it’s fair to celebrate a little if you are the Clemson Tigers or South Carolina Gamecocks. When those rankings come out next week, you can expect both Clemson and South Carolina see a large uptick in their ranking despite playing FCS teams in Week 13.
Let me explain why.
College Football Playoff Rankings Winners
The biggest winners are certainly Clemson and South Carolina. You can put the Tennessee Volunteers in this group here, but the Vols have an outside shot at the SEC Championship Game, so their hopes are a bit higher than an at-large bid at this time.
And, by the pure fact that Clemson and South Carolina needed pure chaos to increase their chances of making the playoffs only makes it easier to grant them the biggest winners from Week 13.
With a few more results next week like the ones Tiger and Gamecock fans got in Week 13, the annual Palmetto Bowl could be seen as a play-in game for the playoffs.
Clemson dispatched The Citadel and South Carolina easily walked by Wofford. But those aforementioned results elsewhere are why these two teams are the biggest winners.
When you break down what Clemson and South Carolina needed in order to see their ranking rise on Tuesday, these results couldn’t have gone better:
- Indiana losing comfortably to Ohio State, 38-15
- Ole Miss losing to Florida, 24-17
- BYU losing to Arizona State, 28-23
- Colorado losing to Kansas, 21-37
Indiana is still likely going to find themselves ranked higher than Clemson or South Carolina, but with a comfortable win by the Buckeyes, the committee could value the Hoosiers and their incredibly low strength of schedule a lot less than a team like Clemson or SC.
Ole Miss was ranked in the top 10 and hanging on by a thread for the SEC and the playoffs. Their outright loss to Florida pushes them out of both and far below Clemson and SC in the next rankings.
BYU and Colorado both found themselves above Clemson and SC but will now find themselves on the outside looking into the playoffs behind these two. Yes, Arizona State is on Clemson and SC’s heels, and yes, one of these Big 12 teams will get the automatic bid for winning the conference, but with both losing and the winner of the Big 12 guaranteed at least two losses, we can all but guarantee ourselves that just one Big 12 team will make the playoffs.
MORE: Simulate the College Football Season with CFN’s College Football Playoff Predictor
So that means Clemson and South Carolina should rise in the rankings by at least three spots apiece. After ranking 17th and 18th on the last iteration, Clemson and South Carolina, respectively, should find themselves at least 14th and 15th in this next week’s iteration.
A dominant outing by either of these two teams on the final week of the regular season could grant them the benefit of the doubt within the committee’s eyes.
Clemson still isn’t out of it in terms of the ACC Championship (they need a Miami loss), either. Hypothetically, South Carolina could knock off Clemson, Miami could lose, and Clemson could still win the ACC.
Imagine these two teams meet in the playoffs?! Okay, fine, I’m clearly getting ahead of myself, but the realm of possibilities is too much fun not to speculate.
College Football Playoff Rankings Losers
The biggest loser of the weekend is clearly the Big 12. While the SEC and Big Ten are essentially guaranteeing multiple teams make the playoffs, the Big 12 saw their top two seeds fall on Saturday.
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With Clemson losing to Kansas and BYU losing to Arizona State, no team is likely to find themselves ranked higher than 16th in the next iteration. Yes, one Big 12 team will make it, but at this rate, only the Big 12 Champion will earn their spot in the playoffs.
When the SEC and Big Ten place four teams apiece and the Big 12 and ACC only get one team in, it will absolutely be used as recruiting and portal enticement in the future.
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