Stanford beat Washington on Friday night (Nov. 10), likely eliminating the Pac-12 Conference from the 2018 college football playoff. The updated Pac-12 standings reveal that the best a team from the conference can finish is with two losses. That might not be good enough for any of the schools to receive an invite from the College Football Playoff Committee.
To get to the CFP, it usually requires that a school have zero or one loss heading into the final rankings of the season. With undefeated teams like Alabama, Georgia, and Miami still battling it out, it is very unlikely that a two-loss team can sneak into the College Football Playoff.
It would take far too many upsets over the final weeks of the regular season for it to take place.
Two SEC schools in the CFP?
As previously reported, Georgia and Alabama remain undefeated, setting up the possibility of an SEC Championship Game where both schools are at 12-0. Having the Pac-12 champion with at least two losses might just guarantee that both Georgia and Alabama get an invite to play in the 2018 CFP. That might be disheartening to fans of every other conference this year.
There are other teams that could now crash the party as well, with one-loss Clemson and undefeated Miami ready to make some noise of their own. The loss by Washington definitely opens the door wider for a Big Ten champion to crash the party, even if that team doesn’t happen to reside in Wisconsin.
It also benefits the Big 12 that the Pac-12 has moved out of the way. This means that the Stanford win serves as good news for the rest of the country, but bad news for Pac-12 schools hoping for that additional revenue.
Pac-12 beats up on itself again
Four teams still have a great shot at emerging as the Pac-12 champion this year, but their records show how the conference has beaten up on itself again this year.
USC (8-2, 6-1), Stanford (7-3, 6-2), Washington State (8-2, 5-2), and Washington (8-2, 5-2) could all emerge from the Pac-12 Championship Game as the winner. It doesn’t guarantee the school anything other than a nice bowl game invite.
The Washington State Cougars are the only team from the North that still controls their own destiny.
If they beat Utah on Nov. 11 and then win against Washington in the 2017 Apple Cup, then WSU will advance to play USC in the conference championship game. WSU beat USC earlier in the regular season, but another Luke Falk vs. Sam Darnold matchup could be intriguing on paper.
