Dan Mullen offers blunt take on which teams are still alive in College Football Playoff race

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report11/29/22

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings is out ahead of conference championship weekend and former Florida coach and current ESPN analyst Dan Mullen has a pretty straightforward view of which teams are already in and how many CFP berths are truly up for grabs.

For Mullen, Georgia, Michigan and TCU have already done enough to merit inclusion win or lose in their respective conference championship games.

He tweeted a very simple take on that, noting the fourth College Football Playoff team will be USC or Ohio State.

The Buckeyes checked in at No. 5 in this week’s rankings, while the Trojans were at No. 4. But while Ohio State will be watching all the action from home this weekend, USC will be tasked with defending its spot in the current CFP rankings in a Pac-12 Championship Game rematch with Utah.

The Utes are the only team that has beaten the Trojans this season, doing so in a thriller that ended with a successful two-point conversion by Utah for the win.

The Pac-12 Championship Game will be played on Friday night, kicking off at 8 ET on FOX. If Mullen is right, the Buckeyes should know by Saturday whether they’ll be returning to the College Football Playoff for the third time in the last four years.

Is Alabama out of the College Football Playoff race?

Many analysts thought two-loss Alabama might still have a shot at sneaking into the College Football Playoff prior to rivalry week, but have those hopes faded?

Mullen seems to think so. So too does ESPN analyst David Pollack, who pointed out Alabama doesn’t have many real statement wins this year.

“Everybody points to the close losses, I get it,” Pollack said during Tuesday’s reveal show. “They also had a bunch of close games with Ole Miss and Texas A&M and Texas. They haven’t been a great team this year. You’ve seen Bryce Young be great in spurts but this isn’t a team you look at that’s been dominant by any stretch. At any form of the season really.”

Regardless, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out. Conference championship weekend is nearly upon us.