USC Loses Out On Playoff, TCU Hopes Enough Has Been Done, Georgia Rolls And Tennessee Benefits

ATLANTA- We came into the weekend with one spot up for grabs in the College Football Playoff. But the results also effected teams not playing. After USC lost to Utah on Friday night, Ohio State were the ones celebrating. Utah's win all but locked up a playoff spot for the Buckeyes. For TCU, the loss to Kansas State shouldn't keep them out, but the arguments were rampant, with Nick Saban lobbying for a spot in the Playoff.

As for Georgia, the Bulldogs routed LSU, winning their first SEC championship since 2017. Along with the win, the SEC will have three teams in New Year's Six bowl games. The College Football Playoff took a slight backseat on Saturday night, with the news of Deion Sanders being hired at Colorado.

How The College Football Playoff Will Be Ranked

The TCU loss should only drop them one-spot to fourth. But it will be interesting to see where Ohio State is ranked. It would be tremendous for the playoff if the Buckeyes are ranked third, which would setup a rematch with Michigan. As for Georgia, they would play 4th ranked TCU in the semifinal game in Atlanta.

Georgia took care of business on Saturday night, defeating LSU and staking their claim to the #1 overall seed. An undefeated regular season, capped off by Stetson Bennett hoisting the championship trophy was something the 2021 team did not accomplish.

Tennessee And Penn State Benefit From Title Game Losses

Two teams that benefited from losses this weekend are Penn State and Tennessee. The Vols were staring down the Cotton Bowl. Now, with Ohio State getting into the playoff, Tennessee is bound for Miami to play in the Orange Bowl. This is a very big deal for Josh Heupel's squad, who would've played Tulane in Dallas. Now, Tennessee gets a marquee game against Clemson.

The Rose Bowl could now see a matchup between Utah and Penn State, thanks to the Utes winning the Pac-12 championship Friday night. And thanks to Michigan winning the Big Ten, Penn State will now play in Pasadena. This is a result of PSU being the highest-ranked team from the conference, not in the playoff.

Nick Saban Lobbies For Alabama Playoff Spot

After defeating TCU on Saturday, Kansas State will now play in the Sugar Bowl, most likely against Alabama. During the Big Ten halftime show, Nick Saban campaigned for his team to be included in the college football playoff, but will most likely come up short.

Credit to Nick Saban, he presented a nice argument, but Bama will ultimately come up short. If the Tide' were to get into the playoffs, Tennessee fans would absolutely revolt against the Playoff committee. It would be entertaining, to say the least.

So, after a wild weekend, the postseason looks to be taking shape. The final four teams will be Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and TCU. Now, the other New Year's Six bowl games will be announced Sunday afternoon. I'll be intrigued to see who plays Tulane in the Cotton Bowl and if we get any type of surprises in the non-NY6 matchups.

Stay tuned to OutKick for the latest news on the College Football Playoff, along with bowl game announcements.

Written by
Trey Wallace is the host of The Trey Wallace Podcast that focuses on a mixture of sports, culture, entertainment along with his perspective on everything from College Football to the College World Series. Wallace has been covering college sports for 15 years, starting off while attending the University of South Alabama. He’s broken some of the biggest college stories including the Florida football “Credit Card Scandal” along with the firing of Jim McElwin and Kevin Sumlin. Wallace also broke one of the biggest stories in college football in 2020 around the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations against Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Wallace also appears on radio across seven different states breaking down that latest news in college sports.