CU Buffs move up in third playoff ranking, what’s needed is clear

It’s up to the Colorado Buffaloes to keep winning if they’re going to make this year’s College Football Playoff and Tuesday’s third ranking showed exactly what Deion Sanders’ crew needs to get done.

The Buffs moved a bit with their posting of No. 16 this evening, up from No. 17 last week. They began the CFP Rankings at No. 20.  With a new format of 12 teams, CU is just on the outside looking in at the tournament which will kick off on Dec. 20. But the new rules don’t just put a dozen teams in the field, it promises positions to all major conference winners. Colorado can clinch a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game this Saturday with a few things going their way.

Colorado’s 49-24 win over the Utes plus Kansas State, who was just ahead of the Buffaloes, losing to Arizona State pushed Prime’s herd a spot higher. If CU can take care of the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday while other Big 12 teams BYU and Utah score wins it will score the Buffs berth to the title game in Dallas.

The Buffaloes still have that road contest this week in Kansas City and then return home to host Oklahoma State to finish out the regular season. Colorado is favored by 2.5 points this weekend and is expected to be favored for the team’s Senior Day.

So the No. 16 number doesn’t matter as much as one may think initially given the Big 12 Championship Game winner is guaranteed one of the 12 spots. The final ranking that will ultimately decide the dozen comes out on Dec. 8, meaning Tuesday’s was the third of six rankings slated to be shared over the next several weeks.

It’s hard to see Colorado getting into the CFP field without winning the Big 12 but there’s now a scenario where the Buffaloes can make it to the Big 12’s title game without winning both of their final games.

Either way, if the Buffaloes win the Big 12, they’re most likely to get a bye past the first round and straight into the quarterfinal. The four highest-rated conference champions get a bye past the campus site games. However, if Colorado wins the Big 12 while dropping either to the Jayhawks or Cowboys the bye will be in question. The winners will never get re-seeded but those second-round games will all be at neutral sites and are being hosted by the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The winners then play in the semifinal hosted by the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl with the winner of it all decided on Jan 20 in Atlanta’s National Championship Game.

This is just the third season the Buffs have ever been ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings. CU charted every week the poll was available during the program’s magical 2016 season, climbing as high as No. 8 before losing the Pac-12 Championship Game. Colorado was also ranked during the shortened 2020 season. The CFP rank has been the go-to one for season’s end since 2014, ultimately the current incarnation and the previous Bowl Championship Series (BCS) aim to determine a true champion of college football so that a situation like the Buffaloes’ 1990 title can never be shared with another program again.