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The first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday. While many fans have focused their attention on the contenders at the top, a few teams lower in the standings have an opportunity to cause chaos throughout the final four weeks of the regular season. Missouri Tigers After a devastating loss at Vanderbilt in Week 9, in which starting quarterback Beau Pribula had to be carted off the field, things looked bleak for Missouri. But fresh off a bye week, the No. 22 Tigers have two monstrous matchups left on their schedule that could propel them into the CFP conversation. On Saturday, Missouri hosts No. 3 Texas A&M and will travel to No. 12 Oklahoma on Nov. 22. Freshman quarterback Matt Zollers showed some promise against the Commodores, but if the Tigers want to pull off two upsets in the next three weeks, running back Ahmad Hardy will need to return to early-season form. Hardy averaged 146 yards through the first five games, but he has failed to eclipse 100 since the Alabama game on Oct. 11. A win over the Aggies would shake up the SEC race and momentarily strip Texas A&M of a first-round bye in the playoff. If Missouri upsets Oklahoma as well, the Sooners would be eliminated from CFP contention entirely. Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt sits at No. 24 and is in one of the more intriguing situations going down the stretch. After a bye week, the Panthers host No. 10 Notre Dame, play at No. 17 Georgia Tech and host No. 18 Miami. Pitt also possesses one of the hotter offenses in the country. Since taking over at quarterback in October, Mason Heintschel has thrown for over 300 yards in four games. The Panthers have the chance to knock the Fighting Irish out of the playoff hunt and reach the ACC title game with wins over the Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes. Not bad for a team that suffered back-to-back losses against West Virginia and Louisville in September. USC Trojans The Big Ten holds three of the 12 spots in the CFP. However, USC may determine whether that number becomes two or four. Quarterback Jayden Maiava has been one of the most prolific passers in the conference, and the Trojans have only failed to score 31 or more points in two games this season. No matter who wins between No. 9 Oregon and No. 20 Iowa on Saturday, USC has a major showdown looming. The Trojans welcome the Hawkeyes to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 15 before traveling to Eugene one week later. Depending on how the dominoes fall, there could be a real argument for a two-loss USC and a two-loss Oregon or Iowa squad to make the CFP over a two-loss SEC, ACC or Big 12 team. Navy Midshipmen Navy’s undefeated season came to a screeching halt last week at North Texas, but the Midshipmen aren’t quite close to being out of the playoff picture. They travel to Notre Dame on Saturday, and even with a loss, Navy can work its way into the American Championship Game while crushing the hopes of other teams vying for the Group of Six’s playoff bid. That’s because the Midshipmen square off with USF and Memphis in the following weeks. Add those potential back-to-back wins to a victory in the American title game, and Navy might just sneak into the top 12 come December.
