The first College Football Playoff rankings dropped on Tuesday afternoon, and while the Colorado Buffaloes did not make the cut, they found themselves just outside of it. The Buffaloes earned the No. 20 overall spot for the first ever 12-team playoff.
CU is currently 6-2 (4-1 Big 12) and were the big winners during their bye week, getting some much needed rest while Iowa State and Kansas State both lost, both of which had previously been ahead of Colorado in the conference. As a result, the Buffs gained ground in the AP Top 25 and the Big 12 without even playing.
Deion Sanders’ squad doesn’t quite have full control of their own destiny yet, as they’ll need some help with losses from either No. 9 BYU or more likely No. 17 Iowa State to get into the conference championship. If they want to scratch their way into the CFP, they’ll need to leapfrog about eight teams to snag a top-12 ranking, and a Big 12 Championship appearance would go a long way toward securing that.
Colorado has four games left, at Texas Tech, vs. Utah, at Kansas, and vs. Oklahoma State. Winning out would likely be enough to put the Buffs in CFP consideration, but a single loss could all but eliminate them.
The top of rankings are dominated by blue blood programs and the projected winners of the power-four conferences: BYU, Oregon, Miami, and Georgia. Colorado could skip past the first round entirely if they were to sneak in and upset BYU for the conference championship.
CFP rankings will continue to update weekly through the end of the season and barring a catastrophic loss, Colorado will continue to keep an eye on the standings.
Cover photo by Roberto Patrick Gerra/SBS
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