Matt Rhule champions two-loss Big Ten teams: How ‘underappreciated’ squads can reach College Football Playoff

The final month of the regular season is always filled with posturing from teams and conferences vying for College Football Playoff spots, and coaches already began standing up for their leagues in the hunt for postseason berths. Prior to the debut CFP Top 25 rankings reveal, it was Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian championing three-loss SEC teams as playoff candidates. And after the rankings were unveiled, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule spoke in defense of the Big Ten.

Rhule specifically pointed to the quartet of two-loss teams in his conference and vouched for them in their respective quests for CFP bids. If one of the squads in that bunch – No. 19 USC, No. 20 Iowa, No. 21 Michigan and No. 23 Washington — got into the bracket, the Big Ten could have four teams represented in the race for the national championship.

“I think the Big Ten teams with two losses are underappreciated,” Rhule said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “I think Iowa’s having a heck of a season. I think SC is having a heck of a season, and many more. Michigan is at 7-2. … I do think there are some really good teams in the Big Ten. We deserve four in.”

The CFP selection committee views each of the Big Ten’s two-loss teams similarly and effectively grouped them into a tier in its first batch of rankings. The committee respects those squads as playoff contenders but, for the moment, has them on the outside looking in at the 12-team bracket. It also placed them behind two-loss teams from all of the other power conferences, sending a clear message that their résumés are weaker than some of their SEC, ACC and Big 12 counterparts’.

Those modest rankings for the Trojans, Hawkeyes, Wolverines and Huskies make their paths to the playoff fairly clear; they will likely need to win out and finish the regular season at 10-2 in order to clinch a berth.

USC Trojans

USC and Iowa will sort themselves out because they go head-to-head on Nov. 15 in what will be a de facto playoff elimination game. From there, the road gets even trickier for the Trojans as they must also get past No. 9 Oregon and do so in Autzen Stadium. With victories over the Hawkeyes and Ducks, USC would likely be one of the most accomplished two-loss teams in the country. Of course, Lincoln Riley’s crew must first take care of business Friday against Northwestern and finish things off on Nov. 29 with a rivalry win over UCLA.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The rubber meets the road this week for Iowa, which hosts Oregon at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Kinnick Stadium already proved daunting for one playoff hopeful in No. 2 Indiana, which played its worst game of the year in a narrow 20-15 win over the Hawkeyes in September. If the Hawkeyes spring a trap for the Ducks, the only things standing between them and their first trip to the CFP would be tricky road games at USC and Nebraska and a home date with Michigan State. A splashy win over the Ducks may also give them margin for error down the line as a potential three-loss playoff hopeful.

Michigan Wolverines

With all due respect to Northwestern and Maryland, whom the Wolverines face in their next two outings, there is only one real résumé-building opportunity remaining on Michigan’s schedule: the regular-season finale against No. 1 Ohio State. The Wolverines will be betting underdogs when their bitter rivals visit Ann Arbor, but if the last four years taught the college football world anything, it is to throw expectations out the window for The Game. Sherrone Moore seemingly has Ohio State’s number, and this year he duels with Ryan Day’s Buckeyes at home. A fifth-straight win in the series would be the cherry on top of a 10-2 season, which almost certainly gets Michigan into the field.

Washington Huskies

Washington might be the sneakiest CFP contender nobody is talking about. The Huskies’ 3-2 conference record has them sitting in the middle of the pack on the Big Ten leaderboard, but in a few weeks’ time, they could be much closer to the top. They project as comfortable favorites over Wisconsin, Purdue and UCLA, and if they scorch through that stretch, they will set up a monumental rivalry battle with Oregon on their home turf. It would be a de facto play-in game for Jedd Fisch, who could then become the third different coach to take Washington to the playoff.