Washington State Football: Road to the College Football Playoff

Outside looking in

#5 Georgia

Remaining Games: vs. Auburn, vs. UMass, vs. Georgia Tech, SEC Championship vs. Alabama.

Thoughts: Georgia can throw a monkey wrench into any shot Washington State has. If Georgia runs the table, including beating Bama in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs are in. At that point, they probably bump the Big 10 champion. Then the SEC would get two teams in the final four once again.

#6 Oklahoma

Remaining Games: vs. Oklahoma State, vs. Kansas, at West Virginia.

Thoughts: Oklahoma, the current Big-12 leaders, are a slightly more respected Washington State. That’s odd considering the Sooners have played one ranked team this year and lost that game in a 48-45 barnburner at home to Texas.

#7 LSU

Remaining Games: at Arkansas, vs. Rice, at Texas A&M

Thoughts: Realistically for LSU to be one of the top four, everyone else needs to fall apart. The odds of that happening are infinitesimal. If Washington State runs the table, they jump over LSU.

#9 West Virginia

Remaining Games: vs. TCU, at Oklahoma State, vs. Oklahoma, Big-12 Championship?

Thoughts: The Mountaineers could conceivably jump Washington State should the Mountaineers win out. Conceivably, yes, but they would have to go through Oklahoma and Texas to do it, which seems highly unlikely.

#10 Ohio State

Remaining Games: at Michigan State, at Maryland, vs. Michigan, Big-10 Championship?

Thoughts: This is one of the two teams (Georgia, the other) that worries me. If the Buckeyes win out the regular season, which includes the finale’ against Michigan, they easily jump Wazzu. Best case scenario for WSU is either Ohio State loses to Michigan State this week, or beat Michigan and lose to Northwestern in the Big 10 Championship game.

The Cougars will need some help to make the final four.