After Week 4, it is clear that some teams are in a worse position than others to reach the college football playoff. Is it too early to completely claim these teams are out of playoff contention? No, especially when you’re either blown out or just 1-3 to begin the season. Here are some teams not in the playoff picture anymore with week 4 in the books.
Teams That Will Miss the College Football Playoff
California Golden Bears (3-1)
I don’t know if anyone has considered the California Golden Bears and Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele a playoff team yet. However, they started 3-0 with a victory over the Minnesota Gophers. The ACC is one of the weakest conferences in the Power Four. Therefore, thinking that a playoff appearance was possible wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Being 3-1 in modern college football certainly doesn’t write anybody off from being in playoff contention.
However, losing 34-0 against the San Diego State Aztecs does. It doesn’t matter how good the Aztecs are; this kind of play doesn’t get you anywhere. The “dark horse” of the ACC is now clearly a team to be beaten by teams like the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles. If California wants even to sniff the possibility of ACC contention, it cannot afford to lose to a Mountain West team in such a manner. Needless to say, the Golden Bears suffered a very embarrassing loss, which made people lose all respect.
Illinois Fighting Illini (3-1)
This isn’t very pleasant for many people, especially since this team was considered one of the top contenders for the college football playoff. The Illinois Fighting Illini kicked off the season, blowing out the Duke Blue Devils on the road 45-19. The Illini were the No. 9 team in the country, going on the road against the No. 19 Indiana Hoosiers. However, instead of putting up a fight against the Hoosiers, the Illini proceeded to lose 63-10 on the road.
Being 3-1 again doesn’t eliminate you from playoff contention. However, this one feels like the end of relevance and respect for Illinois. Illinois doesn’t have an impossible schedule from here, but they don’t look good at all after week 4. This dark horse contender for the BIG Ten was murdered hideously in week 4. It doesn’t get much uglier than that.
Clemson Tigers (1-3)
For the Clemson Tigers, it would take a literal miracle for them to make the college football playoff. Not only have they looked like a joke, such a joke that UCLA might be able to beat them, they are also 1-3. This is the first time the Tigers have been this bad in decades. Not to mention, Clemson was predicted to be one of the best teams in the country with soo much returning talent. The first four games? 17-10 loss to the LSU Tigers, which many didn’t think much of because of the talent of LSU.
However, Clemson then proceeded to barely fend off the Troy Trojans 27-16, which left a huge amount of concern. The Tigers fell all the way out of the rankings after losing to Georgia Tech 24-21 and finally lost convincingly 34-21 against the Syracuse Orange. It now feels like the Tigers can lose almost every game on the schedule except against the Furman Paladins. This is the worst season Clemson has had in years… It could spell the end of the Dabo Swinney era in Clemson.
Overall, the college football playoff will probably have a lot of surprise teams. However, sometimes, after such defining games, the playoffs feels impossible. These teams had defining weeks to say the least. From losing 34-0 against a team that is quite horrible, to losing 63-10 after being seen as one of the best teams in the country. All in all, playoff contention is a far cry for these teams now.
Main Image: Â Brett Davis-Imagn Images
