How have opening four games impacted Missouri football’s College Football Playoff chances?

The Tigers are exactly where they were expected to be.

It has lacked some flash. It has probably sent some heart rates racing. But Missouri football is 4-0 as it works through its first idle week of the season after a double-overtime win over Vanderbilt, a ranked victory over Boston College and shutouts of Buffalo and Murray State.

But what has that done for the Tigers’ shot at a spot in the first edition of the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff?

Here’s the rundown:

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Has Missouri football improved chances of CFP berth?

The Tigers, according to ESPN’s playoff predictor after the Week 4 slate, are the 10th most likely team to earn a spot in the 12-team playoff. The algorithm gives Missouri a 40% chance of making the field.

Once you factor in conference-champion autobids, that’s essentially aligned with where Missouri fell in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25, where the Tigers were the No. 11-ranked team in the country.

More: Missouri football tumbles out of top 10 in coaches poll after double-OT win over Vanderbilt

In a hypothetical scenario where all voters are fortune tellers (they are not), this exact scenario plays out (it will not) and the CFP selection committee is in agreement (it likely won’t be), Mizzou gets the last at-large spot in the field — assuming no Group of Five team jumps into the top 12 — with the No. 11 seed, sending it on the road.

Missouri hasn’t lost and hasn’t really done anything to hurt its playoff odds. But the prognosticators, for what that’s worth, are jumping ship.

None of ESPN’s 11 forecasters put Mizzou in their projected 12-team field after Week 4. That’s down from three CFP projections after the Boston College win, which was down from seven selections…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/opening-four-games-impacted-missouri-080932295.html

Author : Columbia Daily Tribune

Publish date : 2024-09-26 08:09:32

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