Ex-TCU coach offers one-word reminder for teams whose playoff berths are ‘safe’
The College Football Playoff is quickly approaching, and multiple Texas teams are hoping to make the cut.
Some teams like Texas A&M and Texas Tech seem more likely than not to make the 12-team field, but teams like North Texas and Texas are hoping to join them.
The most recent CFP rankings were released Tuesday, and some pundits took them as confirmation about where teams stand in the pecking order for the playoffs.
Former TCU head coach Gary Patterson offered a one-word reminder that things can change.
On X, @RedditCFB posted: “If you think your team is safe after tonight’s rankings, please note that TCU was ranked #3 in the penultimate 2014 rankings, beat Iowa State 55-3, and ended up ranked #6 in the final rankings.”
CBS Sports Shehan Jeyarajah asked, “Is this true?”
Patterson simply responded, “Yep.”
That was in fact the case in 2014, when TCU slipped from No. 3 to No 6 in the final rankings, missing what was then a four-team playoff, in part because there was no Big 12 championship game that season.
Florida State moved up from No. 4 to No. 3 after winning the ACC championship game, and Ohio State vaulted from No. 5 to No. 4 after a 59-0 drubbing of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game.
Baylor moved from No. 6 to No. 5 over TCU on the basis of a head-to-head victory over the Horned Frogs earlier in the season, though that result seemingly hadn’t mattered in previous rankings.
TCU ended the 2014 season with a 42-3 blowout win over Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, while the team that snagged the last spot, Ohio State, would go on to win the national championship.
