The College Football Playoff committee will meet during and after Saturday’s conference title games, then announce its final rankings on Sunday around 12:30 a.m. ET. In the meantime, let’s keep track of each contender.
Tracking College Football Playoff contenders during the season’s final Saturday: Who’s in, out, and still alive?
Here’s your College Football Playoff eliminator timeline for the entire season.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The following teams are still in it. Here’s what each did on the final Saturday:
- No. 1 Clemson is in after beating Miami, 38-3
- No. 3 Oklahoma is in after beating TCU, 41-17
- No. 5 Alabama’s in, thanks to Ohio State losing two blowouts
- No. 6 Georgia is in after beating Auburn, 28-7
- No. 8 Ohio State beat Wisconsin 27-21, but lost two blowouts
And here’s about how far each FBS team made it into the season with a chance (explanation below):
FBS teams basically eliminated from the 2017 College Football Playoff
Week | Elminated | By |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Coastal Carolina | NCAA transition rules |
| 0 | Ole Miss | Ole Miss |
| 0.5 | Rice | Stanford |
| 0.5 | San Jose State | USF |
| 0.5 | UMass | Hawaii |
| 1 | Akron | Penn State |
| 1 | Appalachian State | Georgia |
| 1 | Arkansas State | Nebraska |
| 1 | Ball State | Illinois |
| 1 | Baylor | Liberty |
| 1 | Bowling Green | Michigan State |
| 1 | Buffalo | Minnesota |
| 1 | BYU | LSU |
| 1 | Charlotte | EMU |
| 1 | Colorado State | Colorado |
| 1 | East Carolina | JMU |
| 1 | FAU | Navy |
| 1 | FIU | UCF |
| 1 | Georgia Southern | Auburn |
| 1 | Georgia State | Tennessee State |
| 1 | Kent State | Clemson |
| 1 | Miami (OH) | Marshall |
| 1 | MTSU | Vanderbilt |
| 1 | Nevada | Northwestern |
| 1 | New Mexico State | Arizona State |
| 1 | NIU | Boston College |
| 1 | South Alabama | Ole Miss |
| 1 | Southern Miss | Kentucky |
| 1 | Temple | Notre Dame |
| 1 | Troy | Boise State |
| 1 | Tulsa | Oklahoma State |
| 1 | ULM | Memphis |
| 1 | UNLV | Howard |
| 1 | Utah State | Wisconsin |
| 1 | UTEP | Oklahoma |
| 1 | WMU | USC |
| 1 | Wyoming | Iowa |
| 2 | Boise State | Washington State |
| 2 | Cincinnati | Michigan |
| 2 | Fresno State | Alabama |
| 2 | Hawaii | UCLA |
| 2 | Idaho | UNLV |
| 2 | Louisiana Tech | Mississippi State |
| 2 | Marshall | NC State |
| 2 | New Mexico | New Mexico State |
| 2 | North Carolina | Louisville |
| 2 | North Texas | SMU |
| 2 | Ohio | Purdue |
| 2 | Oregon State | Minnesota |
| 2 | Rutgers | EMU |
| 2 | Texas State | Colorado |
| 2 | Tulane | Navy |
| 2 | UAB | Ball State |
| 2 | UL-Lafayette | Tulsa |
| 2 | Western Kentucky | Illinois |
| 3 | Air Force | Michigan |
| 3 | Arizona State | Texas Tech |
| 3 | Army | Ohio State |
| 3 | Boston College | Notre Dame |
| 3 | CMU | Syracuse |
| 3 | Kansas | Ohio |
| 3 | Missouri | Purdue |
| 3 | Nebraska | NIU |
| 3 | Old Dominion | North Carolina |
| 3 | Pitt | Oklahoma State |
| 3 | SMU | TCU |
| 3 | Stanford | San Diego State |
| 3 | Texas | USC |
| 3 | UConn | Virginia |
| 4 | Arizona | Utah |
| 4 | Arkansas | Texas A&M |
| 4 | EMU | Ohio |
| 4 | Florida State | NC State |
| 4 | Houston | Texas Tech |
| 4 | Purdue | Michigan |
| 4 | Syracuse | LSU |
| 4 | Toledo | Miami |
| 4 | UCLA | Stanford |
| 5 | Cal | Oregon |
| 5 | Colorado | UCLA |
| 5 | Illinois | Nebraska |
| 5 | Indiana | Penn State |
| 5 | Iowa | Michigan State |
| 5 | Iowa State | Texas |
| 5 | LSU | Troy |
| 5 | Memphis | UCF |
| 5 | Mississippi State | Auburn |
| 5 | Northwestern | Wisconsin |
| 5 | South Carolina | Texas A&M |
| 5 | Tennessee | Georgia |
| 5 | Vanderbilt | Florida |
| 6 | Louisville | NC State |
| 6 | Texas A&M | Alabama |
| 6 | Wake Forest | Clemson |
| 6 | West Virginia | TCU |
| 6 | Maryland | Ohio State |
| 6 | Oregon | Washington State |
| 6 | Florida | LSU |
| 6 | Duke | Virginia |
| 6 | Minnesota | Purdue |
| 6 | Kansas State | Texas |
| 6 | UTSA | Southern Miss |
| 7 | Auburn* | LSU |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | Miami |
| 7 | Utah | USC |
| 7 | San Diego State | Boise State |
| 7 | Texas Tech | West Virginia |
| 7 | Navy | Memphis |
| 8 | Michigan | Penn State |
| 8 | USC | Notre Dame |
| 8 | Virginia | Boston College |
| 8 | Kentucky | Mississippi State |
| 9 | NC State | Notre Dame |
| 9 | Washington State | Arizona |
| 9 | Michigan State | Northwestern |
| 9 | USF | Houston |
| 10 | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma |
| 10 | Ohio State* | Iowa |
| 10 | Penn State | Michigan State |
| 10 | Virginia Tech | Miami |
| 11 | Washington | Stanford |
| 11 | Notre Dame | Miami |
| 11 | TCU | Oklahoma |
| 11 | UCF | CFP committee |
| 14 | Auburn (again) | Georgia |
| 14 | Wisconsin | Ohio State |
| 14 | Miami | Clemson |
Rules:
- No Power 5 team is technically out of the running until it suffers its second loss (unless that first loss was something really drastic, like to an FCS team). As 2016 Penn State showed, certain two-loss Power 5s that suffer blowouts are still alive, but for now, we’ll likely knock out all two-loss teams.
- One loss eliminates any mid-major. Non-powers have zero margin for error, and many lack the schedule strength to make it even if they do go undefeated.
Achievements:
- Ole Miss was the first Power 5 team eliminated, thanks to self-sanctions meant to appease the NCAA.
- Baylor was the first Power 5 team to be eliminated by a loss on the field.
- Ole Miss was the first team to eliminate two teams: Ole Miss and South Alabama.
- Michigan was the first team to eliminate three teams: Air Force, Cincinnati, and Purdue.
- Texas A&M was the first team to eliminate two Power 5 teams: Arkansas and South Carolina.
- LSU was the first team to eliminate four teams: Auburn, BYU, Florida, and Syracuse.
- Auburn was ruled back to life after Week 10’s Playoff rankings, and Ohio State followed after walloping Michigan State as the Pac-12 and Notre Dame cleared room. Strange times.
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