Teams That Won't Make The College Football Playoff, Week 11 Edition
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Week 10 saw no movement within the top seven teams in the AP Poll. Teams eight, nine, and ten, however, all suffered losses this past Saturday, damaging their playoff hopes… but not extinguishing them entirely.
Unlike prior weeks, these results will absolutely shake up the College Football Playoff rankings now that the first rankings are out.
I will continue to choose (at least) one team that I am confident will not make the 12-team College Football Playoff field, based on its performance to date.
If you want to know how my process works, check it out here.
So far, we have crossed off Boise State, Florida, Kansas State, Clemson, Auburn, South Carolina, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Illinois, Memphis, Nebraska, LSU, Arizona State, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Here is this week’s list (new teams added to the list last week are in bold):
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. Georgia Tech
9. Vanderbilt
10. BYU
11. Miami
12. Notre Dame
13. Texas Tech
14. Tennessee
15. Virginia
16. Louisville
17. Cincinnati
20. Texas
21. Michigan
22. Houston
23. USC
24. Utah
You’ll notice that the list has less than 25 teams. The goal is for this list to be exactly 12 teams the day the final CFP rankings are released… in order!
This week’s selections: Houston, Iowa State and Tennessee.
Why Houston?
The way it’s looking, the Big 12 is getting (at most) two teams into the CFP: its conference champion and (maybe) one at-large bid. Houston removed itself from the conversation entirely after losing 45-35 at home to a 3-6 West Virginia team.
Why Iowa State? Wait… Iowa State isn’t even on the list! Was it not crossed off already?
Well… here’s a bit of a mea culpa. The Cyclones were accidentally dropped from the list between Week 7 and Week 8, when they still had a chance to get to the Big 12 title game.
They should have been officially dropped after losing to BYU the Saturday before last, so this is a bit of housekeeping on my end. My sincere apologies to the thousands of Cyclones fans who read this column every week and wondered what happened to their team.
Why Tennessee?
I am very reluctant to cross off SEC teams, as they get (whether earned or not) the benefit of the doubt from practically everyone (coaches, media, pollsters, committees, Paul Finebaum, etc.).
However, if a 9-3 Alabama team couldn’t make the field last year, I don’t see the committee allowing anyone else with three losses to make the field as an at-large team. The Volunteers’ home loss to Oklahoma sealed their fate.
Houston, Iowa State and Tennessee… your watch has ended.
Check back next week when I cross off at least one team from this list (new teams added to the list this week are in bold):
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. BYU
9. Texas Tech
10. Notre Dame
11. Oklahoma
12. Virginia
13. Texas
14. Louisville
16. Georgia Tech
17. Utah
18. Miami
19. Missouri
20. USC
21. Michigan
24. Washington
25. Cincinnati
This story was originally reported by College Football News on Nov 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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