Auburn football has won enough games in 2021 to legitimately put their hat into the ring for the College Football Playoff. Currently ranked #12, with the third-highest ranking in the SEC, a National Championship is not off the table.
Very few teams can legitimately say that.
But losing to the new overlords of college football (for now), Georgia, and a then-#10 ranked Penn State in their infamous White Out game are not season-ending blemishes…unlike, say, a trap game home loss to Illinois or an OT loss to Stanford (if coupled with any other losses).
That said, there are three undefeated teams that cannot remain that way for AU to complete their rise to the top:
Undefeated team #1 that must lose for Auburn football to make CFP: Cincinnati
It’s a mostly easy stretch for Group of Five darling Cincinnati, who has the chance to parlay an AAC title and an undefeated season into crashing the CFP party this New Year’s. USF and Tulsa should be pushovers, while SMU is their last true challenge before the regular season concludes with a road game at East Carolina.
Somewhere in that pack needs to be a loss to open up a spot in the CFP for the Tigers. Even with one loss, Georgia could be a lock at this point considering their utterly dominant run this season.
The most likely candidate would seemingly be SMU, who ranks in the top 10 in both yards per game and touchdowns this season. Otherwise, we’d have a pretty sizable spoiler in the American given the three other aforementioned Bearcats opponents are currently .500 or worse.
Then again, a championship weekend loss could also be enough to knock Cincy out of the CFP’s top 4.
Undefeated team #2 that must lose for Auburn football to make CFP: Wake Forest
Wake Forest’s schedule is about to ratchet up in intensity substantially during the 2021 season’s final month.
If the Demon Deacons can come out of it unscathed, with an ACC Championship game victory to top it off, they’ll be CFP-bound.
That said, a loss along the way could spell trouble for a team that has been a surprise to many, occupying the role that Clemson typically plays in the ACC Atlantic. And it’s not hard to imagine Wake wearing down over the next five weeks with a run that includes UNC, NC State, Clemson, and Boston College, all teams currently .500 or better and likely all above that mark by season’s end. And a title game if they can run that gauntlet.
While the ACC has largely underperformed in 2021 outside of the Demon Deacons, even the worst teams, Duke and Georgia Tech, have records of 3-5.
Parity is real on the Atlantic Coast, and Wake Forest could be worse for wear because of it. Sam Hartman’s Heisman candidacy is truly about to be tested in the season’s stretch run.
Undefeated team #3 that must lose for Auburn football to make CFP: Georgia
Of course, no College Football Playoff conversation could be had without Auburn running the table and pulling off a seismic upset against Georgia, a shoe-in for the title game barring an unspeakable collapse for the Bulldogs over the next four weeks.
Currently undefeated in SEC East play, the next team in line would have to be Kentucky with two losses. Given that the Dawgs beat down the Wildcats when they faced off head-to-head, it’d take UK running the table and Georgia losing three of their next four.
Their next four games include home games against Mizzou and Charleston Southern, and road games on Rocky Top against Tennessee and in Atlanta against Georgia Tech…which may not even resemble much of a home game with a split crowd. If there’s three losses in there, you have me utterly fooled as to what they are.
Hell, only Tennessee, losers of three of their last five games, figures to be slightly competitive. So yeah, let’s just lock in the Dawgs for the SEC Championship.
Truly, Jordan Davis and that Georgia defensive front would be a fitting final boss for Bo Nix in what would be the Heisman run of his life should he lead the Tigers there. The redemption storyline is already written with the Bulldogs bullying the Tigers on the Plains during their bi-annual Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry visit.
Before any CFP talk, Goliath must be slayed.