Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Move Up To No. 9 In College Football Playoff Rankings
November 22, 2016 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Three days after a win over No. 22 Washington State, the Colorado Buffaloes stepped up to No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
The 9-2 Buffs, who checked in at No. 10 a week ago, moved up thanks to a loss by Louisville. The Cardinals, who were No. 5 a week ago, fell to No. 11 after losing to Houston, their second loss of the season.
It now means Mike MacIntyre's Buffs are ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches poll as well as the CFP rankings. CU was No. 15 in the initial CFP rankings, then moved up to No. 12, then No. 10 before the latest rankings by the committee.
Another set of CFP rankings will be released next Tuesday, with the final rankings to be released Sunday, Dec. 4, two days after the Pac-12 championship game. The rankings decide the four teams that will participate in the national playoff semifinals, and also have a significant effect on who plays in the other major bowl games.
The national semifinals will be played Dec. 31 in the Peach Bowl (Atlanta) and Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.). The national championship will be played Jan. 9 in Tampa, Fla.
Colorado is one of six Pac-12 teams in the CFP top 25. The list also includes Stanford (No. 24) and Washington State (No. 23), both of whom the Buffs have beaten. At No. 22 is Utah, who the Buffs host Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. game at Folsom Field.
Also ranked are USC (No. 12) and Washington (No. 5).
Overall, Colorado is 2-2 against top 25 teams, with wins over Washington State and Stanford and losses to Michigan and USC. CU held the lead at Michigan when starting quarterback Sefo Liufau was injured, and Liufau did not play against USC.
"Colorado is a team the committee is really impressed with," said CFP selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt. "They're strong on both sides of the ball."
The Buffs have the chance to play two more ranked teams in the next two weeks. If they beat Utah on Saturday, the Buffs will advance to the Dec. 2 Pac-12 championship game, where they would face the winner of Friday's Washington-Washington State contest in Pullman.
"It shows you how deep our conference is with six in the top 25," MacIntyre said. "The fact that our conference plays nine games and some conferences don't also adds to our strength of schedule. Certainly whoever wins our conference is going to deserve to be highly ranked."
The Buffs no doubt still have a chance to be included among the final four, but it would take a number of scenarios falling in their favor to make such an occurrence happen. Still, with at least two more games remaining (Utah and a bowl game) and the possibility of as many as four, the Buffs could become the first team in CU history to win 12 games in a season.
The top four in the latest rankings are Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson. Ohio State and Michigan meet this weekend, meaning one of them could drop several spots next week. That game could also pose a conundrum for the committee: if Ohio State beats Michigan and Penn State beats Michigan State this weekend, Penn State will advance to the Big Ten championship game, not Ohio State.
That would leave an 11-1 Ohio State team waiting for the final rankings to see if the CFP committee would take two Big Ten teams (assuming the Big Ten champion is also selected). If that happens, and assuming Alabama also makes the final four, such a scenario would leave just one more spot to be selected from the Pac-12, ACC and Big 12.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
