CFB Playoff after Week 12

[StevensTechU]

The ACC and G6 races got super interesting weekend. I don't expect a team from either group to actually win a playoff game, but the current format has given intrigue to the races to get in.

For the G5, we came into the year with Boise State as the favorite. It took zero time for it to become South Florida after they smashed Boise and beat Florida. Then Memphis was the favorite, with the spot almost locked up by the American conference. But then Memphis and South Florida both suffer losses, while Navy got beaten down by Notre Dame, and James Madison is in the race with San Diego State no longer being completely out of contention. I love it.

The ACC has four teams who all have one loss: Georgia Tech and Virginia at 6-1, and SMU and Pitt at 5-1. I don't know all the tiebreakers but GT is in if they win their last conference game against Pitt. If that happens, Pitt is out and Virginia and SMU have a bunch of wonky tiebreakers to get the second spot. If they all end up with two losses then hell breaks loose and fire rains from the skies. Maybe there's a path for Cal to still get it, I don't know. Virginia looks like the best team in the conference, though, with Miami being simultaneously the scariest and the one most likely to repeatedly step on a rake and hit themselves in the face.

If Oregon beats washington and USC beats UCLA, then this upcoming weekend is what will put one of those two teams in the playoff. USC would become 3-1 against top 30 teams (W Oregon, Iowa and Michigan; L Notre Dame). Oregon as a 1-loss team and a 2-1 against top 30 would get them in.