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Roundtable: How many playoff contenders in each conference?
- Updated: May 20, 2016
10:19 AM ET
In six short months, the stretch run of college football begins, with the final two weeks of the regular season sure to shape the playoff pairings and races for major awards. This week, we’re looking forward to late 2016, when the Power 5 conferences jockey for postseason position.
On Thursday, we answered the question of which coach needs to get off to a fast start. Today, we’ll examine how many College Football Playoff contenders are in each conference.
ACC
The ACC’s two best playoff contenders will meet Oct. 29 when Dabo Swinney and the Tigers travel to Tallahassee to take on Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles. AP Photo/Richard Shiro
For the first time, the ACC has multiple playoff contenders headed into the season: Clemson and Florida State. Their emergence has begun to change the narrative about ACC football, which has muscled its way into the national conversation over the past three seasons. So far, the league is 2-for-2 in getting teams into the College Football Playoff. (It also has the last BCS champion.) Whether it goes 3-for-3 largely depends on its two best teams: The Tigers hope to get back into the playoff for a second straight season behind Deshaun Watson and seven other returning starters on offense; Florida State hopes to take down the Tigers behind Dalvin Cook and a stout defensive front. They meet Oct. 29 in Tallahassee, Florida. The winner has the inside track, though it probably has to end up undefeated to assure its playoff spot. — Andrea Adelson
Big 12
QB Baker Mayfield and the Sooners are the Big 12 front-runners to reach the College Football Playoff, but they’ll have to fend off many capable contenders. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Despite Oklahoma entering the season as the clear favorite to win the Big 12 and the No. 3 team in ESPN’s preseason FPI projections, the conference features several teams that could fight their way into the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma State returns an experienced team and an offense that could be explosive with quarterback Mason Rudolph and receiver James Washington forming one of the Big 12’s top duos. Baylor …
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