Weeks nine and ten have narrowed down the list of true contenders for the College Football Playoff even more. The paths to the conference championship games have become very clear for the contenders. While some powerhouses control their own destinies, other teams still have a shot at the playoffs if they take care of business and get a little help from some upsets. Regardless of where each team is currently, these two weeks have shown that anything can happen and any team with even the smallest shot at a bid, could earn one based on how these next few weeks play out.

With back to back losses for Penn State they have gone from a major contender to a team that has virtually no shot at making the College Football Playoffs.  With losses to Ohio State and Michigan State, their title hopes are all but gone. Another Big Ten team whose playoff hopes are most likely gone are the Ohio State Buckeyes. Although they pulled off an upset of Penn State on week 9, week ten was not friendly to the Buckeyes. They were blown out by then unranked Iowa 55-24, ultimately ending their national title hopes. These two weeks have been a nightmare for the Big Ten Conference whose only hope now is an undefeated Wisconsin team that has yet to play a ranked opponent. They will play number 25 Iowa followed by Michigan which could be a good guess to see if they are a true contender. With the very weak strength of the Badgers schedule they will not only have to win the Big Ten championship game, they will most likely have to complete their season undefeated.

Notre Dame, Clemson, and Oklahoma all have a much easier path to the playoff now because of the huge losses in the Big Ten and former number four ranked TCU, as they were upset by Iowa State. These three one loss teams all have strong cases if they win out. Clemson has an easy schedule until the ACC title game against undefeated Miami. This game figures to be a play-in game for the playoff if Miami can defeat Notre Dame next week. With Miami’s strength of schedule it is definitely possible for them to be left out of the top four even with an ACC title if they suffer a loss to Notre Dame this coming Saturday. Notre Dame is the highest ranked one loss team because that one loss came to the highest ranked team in the country, the Georgia Bulldogs. If they can come away with a win against undefeated Miami, they would certainly be granted one of the four slots for the playoff, barring an unforeseen upset from either Navy or a struggling Stanford.

Oklahoma came away with a statement win in Bedlam against their in-state rivals Oklahoma State. In doing this they accomplished three huge things this week. First, they added a statement win to add to their resume as they seek a bid for the playoffs. Second, they virtually eliminated Oklahoma State from contention for the playoff. Lastly, Baker Mayfield’s huge game could launch him into contention for the Heisman, especially with the recent struggles of Penn State affecting Saquon Barkley’s case and Stanford’s struggles harming Bryce Love’s case. Oklahoma has TCU up next on the schedule and the loser of this game will be eliminated from contention, while the winner will have a huge statement win to add to their resume.

Alabama came away with a solid 24-10 win against their SEC rivals the LSU Tigers and will look ahead to a schedule of Mississippi State, Mercer, and Auburn. The biggest of these tests will come against Auburn, but they will have to lose another game to not be crowned the SEC west champions. Then will come the SEC championship against currently undefeated Georgia. If Alabama wins the SEC they will be granted a College Playoff birth even if they fall to Auburn. They should also be granted a spot if they lose the SEC championship, but go undefeated during the regular season. Georgia finds themselves in a very similar situation. Their biggest test left is a tilt against Auburn next week followed by two “easy” games against Kentucky and Georgia Tech. Georgia will be in the College Football Playoff even if they lose the SEC championship unless they fail to win out the regular season. It seems very likely for the SEC to send two teams to the playoffs this season.

The College Football Playoff is starting to become a tight race with teams getting eliminated each week. The coming weeks will narrow down the list even further and statement victories will become all the more important. Many different scenarios are still possible and it is very likely that SEC will have two teams representing them in the playoff while the Big Ten will be on the outside looking in. The playoff is shaping up to have a hectic ending and the race for the four spots is still wide open. These coming weeks will show which teams have a real shot at winning the national championship.