The Zabe

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The Takes: The 7 Teams Left in The College Football Playoff

This is the best part of College Football, bitching about the rankings.

With two regular-season games left, plus the conference finals, there are ONLY 7 teams left that can make the playoffs.

Five schools are “win and get in”

Two schools need some help

Everyone else, you are DEAD

Here are the win and get in teams


Georgia Bulldogs

This should come as no surprise. Georgia being the defending champions, and clearly the best team, only have to win 2 of their next 3 games to be a part of the top 4.

Where they can get shaky is if SOME HOW they drop a game to either Kentucky on the road, or at home against Georgia Tech.

Then their SEC Championship game means a whole lot more

Otherwise, I wouldn’t blame the team for treating that championship game as a meaningless week 18 game in the NFL.

Ohio State Buckeyes

If you are an OSU fan you probably got pissed when I called Georgia “clearly the best team”

This team is flawed by getting too bored on offense. Shit comes too easy to them, second cup of coffee in the morning easy.

Honestly, if they can just beat Maryland they could very nearly be guaranteed a spot in the final 4, but to be safe they should probably try to beat Michigan at home.

Michigan Wolverines

They need to win out, Michigan does not have the same respect that OSU gets if they lose that matchup, they can still be in.

Michigan has to win against Illinois (Not easy), at Ohio State (Not realistic), AND their conference championship in order to be guaranteed a spot.

If they can’t do those three tasks, then they will need some help from other teams like Tennessee, TCU, LSU, and USC all losing

Michigan is fucked if they don’t win their next 3, buckle up buckaroo cause it ain’t happening.

TCU Horned Frogs

Definitely the surprise team of the season. I am pumped to try to see their colors in this college football playoff

I like chaos, and the Horned Frogs add that bit of chaos needed

They need to win all three of their games. At Baylor, home against Iowa State, and then their Conference Championship

I think they can do that, and then they will absolutely get annihilated in their playoff game against an actual football school

LSU Tigers

It is insane that a 2-loss team has this wide-open of a shot at the playoffs this late in the season.

A team with more than 1 loss has never made it to the playoffs, but LSU absolutely can.

Win against UAB, on the road to Texas A&M, and then the SEC Championship against Georgia. Would be an insane streak of wins after losing early October to Tennessee

Speaking of Tennessee… this would start the best argument of all time. Rocky Top would have some salty tears if LSU won out and Tennessee didn’t get in.

But that’s the sad truth they would have to accept. BIG job to beat Georgia, but if LSU did it while still taking down UAB and Texas A&M, they would be in.


Who needs help?

Tennessee Volunteers

Yes, I know they beat LSU in October. Yes, I know they beat Bama.

Yes, I know they are ranked higher than LSU but even if Tennessee wins out, they need LSU to lose. On top of that, they need TCU to lose, and probably need either USC to fall or Michigan to look TERRIBLE against Ohio State.

Tennessee fans can’t expect anything else if those 3 things don’t happen.

You looked like shit against Georgia. THAT was your playoff bid. If it was close or fun to watch it’s a different story.

USC Trojans

I would love to see the Trojans make it to the college football playoff, but they need just a little bit of help.

USC needs to beat UCLA, Notre Dame, AND win their conference championship. What a heavy list.

If they do all 3, I still don’t see them being able to jump an LSU team that beats #1 Georgia.

UCLA and Notre Dame are both really good teams. The Pac-12 just beats up on each other too much where I don’t see those wins adding up to more than a win against THE Georgia Bulldogs.

BUT, all they need to root for is an LSU loss or a TCU loss. If either of those happen, then USC will easily be the 4th team in the playoffs with their impressive resume

Lincoln Riley is the real deal, and this team school should be pumped.





OH BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ACC!?

Clemson and North Carolina suck.

If North Carolina played Georgia in the playoffs, it would be a spread of about 47.5

Clemson has looked terrible all year and nobody in the Selection Committee will want to see them play a meaningful game this year.




Let me know what you think

Shout out to Archie who last week gave me this amazing advice, I hope I got better.

Still not great, but better.


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