Mids play at SMU on Saturday
Nov. 22, 2016
Navy is ranked 25th in the latest College Football Playoff ranking announced tonight on ESPN. The Mids are one of four Group of Five teams ranked in the Top 25. The highest ranked Group of Five conference champion receives an automatic bid to the Cotton Bowl.
Boise State (10-1, 6-1 in the MWC) is the highest ranked Group of Five team at 19th, but the Broncos may not even win the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference.
Wyoming (8-3, 6-1 in the MWC) beat Boise State earlier this year, 30-28, giving the Cowboys the tiebreaker over the Broncos.
If Wyoming wins at New Mexico (7-4, 5-2 in the MWC) on Saturday night (10:15 PM on ESPN2) OR if Boise State loses at Air Force (8-3, 4-3 in the MWC) on Friday afternoon (3:30 PM on CBS Sports Network) then Wyoming wins the division and Boise State will be eliminated.
Houston (9-2, 5-2) is ranked 20th, but the Cougars are already eliminated from consideration for the Cotton Bowl by virtue of their 46-40 loss at Navy earlier this season. Navy clinched the West last week with a 66-31 victory over East Carolina.
Western Michigan (11-0, 7-0 in the MAC) is ranked 21st. The Broncos will play for the Mid-American West Division title on Friday night against Toledo (9-2, 6-1) at 5 PM on ESPN2. A Toledo win would eliminate Western Michigan. If Western Michigan wins they would play either Ohio or Miami (Ohio) in the MAC Championship game.
Navy (8-2, 6-1 in the AAC) will play for a chance at home field advantage in the American Athletic Conference Championship game on Saturday afternoon (3:30 PM on ESPNU) when they travel to Dallas to take on SMU (5-6, 3-4 in the AAC).
If Navy defeats SMU and Temple (8-3, 6-1 in the AAC) defeats East Carolina (3-8, 1-6 in the AAC), Navy will host the championship game by virtue of being ranked by the College Football Playoff Committee (second tiebreaker)
If Navy loses to SMU and Temple defeats East Carolina, then Navy would play at Temple.
If Temple loses to East Carolina and USF (9-2, 6-1 in the AAC) beats UCF (6-5, 4-3) then Navy would play at USF no matter what the Mids do against SMU.
If USF loses to UCF, the Bulls would be eliminated from contention no matter what happens with Temple.
If all three teams lose it would come down to the composite of four computer rankings between Navy and Temple and Navy would most likely host as the Mids have a significant lead on Temple in the computer rankings.
UCF plays at USF on Saturday at 12 noon on CBS Sports Network, while Temple plays host to East Carolina on Saturday night at 7:30 PM on ESPNews.