Week 6 winners and losers: Who the playoff contenders are at the halfway point

2022 would be a very fun year for a 12-team playoff.

Alas, we're not getting an expanded playoff for another couple seasons. Just four teams will play for the national title at the end of the season again. And we've got a pretty good idea of who is in the pool of playoff candidates.

With the season halfway over for many college football teams, we figured it was a good time to take a look at the teams that have a chance of playing for the national title. Our list is sorted by conference and some conferences have more candidates than others.

ACC

Clemson (5-0)

Sorry Syracuse, but Clemson is the only ACC team with a chance at the playoff. The Tigers are the only 3-0 team in the ACC and has a leg up on both Wake Forest and NC State in the race for the Atlantic Division title. Syracuse, meanwhile, hasn’t played either of those two teams and still has to face Clemson too. The Tigers are a playoff-caliber team so far because of the improvement D.J. Uiagalelei has shown in his second season as a starter. As long as he continues to be above average — he wasn’t even average in 2021 and the Tigers still won 10 games — then Clemson has a shot at an undefeated regular season and a surefire playoff berth.

Big 12

Oklahoma State (6-0)

TCU (5-0)

We can easily envision a scenario where everyone in the Big 12 finishes with two or more losses and no one from the conference sniffs the playoff. But for the sake of this post we’ll include Oklahoma State and TCU, the only two undefeated teams in the conference. The Cowboys are better on offense in 2022 to make up for a step back on defense with the departure of coordinator Jim Knowles. TCU, meanwhile, has its offense humming in Sonny Dykes’ first season. The strength of the Big 12 makes envisioning an undefeated season for either of these two teams ridiculously difficult. And one of them won't be undefeated any longer after Week 7. TCU hosts Oklahoma State next week.

Big Ten

Michigan (6-0)

Ohio State (6-0)

Penn State (5-0)

The winner of the Big Ten East will have the inside track to a playoff berth. Heck, there could even be two teams from the division in the playoff. The East is the only division in college football with three teams in the top 10 of the AP poll heading into Week 6 and next week’s game between Penn State and Michigan is the biggest Big Ten game of the season so far. The winner will have an inside track to playoff contention while the loser will have to win out (and beat Ohio State) to have a shot.

Pac-12

USC (5-0)

UCLA (6-0)

Oregon (4-1)

Yes, we’ve got three Pac-12 teams in the mix, even if USC is the team with the best shot at the playoff at the moment. The Pac-12’s playoff drought is well-known at this point and could easily extend through 2022. But any of the three teams listed above can be in the thick of the playoff race by winning out and winning the Pac-12 title. And it’s also worth noting that we could have any combination of the these three teams and Utah in the Pac-12 title game. The conference eschewed divisions ahead of the season; the two teams with the best records are in. And while Utah has two losses overall, it’s still in the Pac-12 mix if it beats USC at home in Week 7.

SEC

Georgia (6-0)

Tennessee (6-0)

Alabama (5-0)

Ole Miss (6-0)

Mississippi State (5-1)

The SEC sure seems like it’s Alabama and Georgia and then everyone else, but don’t discount the roles that Tennessee, Ole Miss and even Mississippi State can play down the stretch and their ability to get into the playoff. Tennessee’s throttling of LSU on Saturday sets up the biggest game between the Vols and Crimson Tide in years in Week 7 while Georgia is still taking care of business while in a bit of a midseason funk. Tennessee needs to split its games with Georgia and Alabama (and win out) to have a shot, while both of the Mississippi schools are going to have to take down Alabama to have any chance at cracking the top four.

Group of Five and independents

No one

There won’t be a non-Power Five team in the playoff for a second year in a row. The only two undefeated teams remaining outside the Power Five conferences entering Week 6 were Coastal Carolina and James Madison from the Sun Belt. And JMU is ineligible for the postseason since the Dukes are in their first season at the top level of college football. That leaves Coastal Carolina as the only option. And while the Sun Belt is much better than it used to be, there’s no chance CCU will make the playoff with an undefeated season.

Here are the winners and losers of Week 6

WINNERS

Tennessee: The Vols are for real. Tennessee improved to 5-0 with a 40-13 victory over No. 25 LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday. It was a dominant performance. The Vols jumped out to a 23-7 halftime lead and grew that lead to 37-7 after three quarters. Hendon Hooker had another stellar outing at quarterback as the Vols put up 502 yards of offense, including 263 on the ground. Additionally, the defense held LSU to just 55 rushing yards and a combined 7-of-18 on third and fourth down. Alabama visits Knoxville next Saturday for a massive matchup.

UCLA: USC has been the talk of the Pac-12 this year, but how about UCLA? The Bruins were home underdogs for the second straight week and once again they emerged with a victory. Last week they beat Washington. This week it was a 42-32 victory over No. 11 Utah. Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet were excellent once again. DTR threw for 299 yards and had five total touchdowns while Charbonnet rushed for 198 yards and a score. Now 6-0, the Bruins are going to have another huge game in two weeks when they face Oregon in Eugene.

Ohio State: Ohio State's offense looks unstoppable. The Buckeyes trounced Michigan State 49-20 on Saturday to go into the bye week with a 6-0 record. OSU beat Notre Dame 21-10 in Week 1. Since then, the Buckeyes have scored at least 45 points in every game. On Saturday in East Lansing, OSU had 614 yards of offense as CJ Stroud threw for 361 yards and six touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. had three touchdown catches, giving him nine on the year.

Mississippi State: Is Mississippi State the second-best team in the SEC West? The Bulldogs improved to 5-1 with a 40-17 win over Arkansas on Saturday behind another excellent performance from Will Rogers. Rogers went 31-of-48 for 395 yards and three touchdowns in the win and is now the all-time completions leader in SEC history, surpassing Georgia's Aaron Murray. We'll learn just how good the Bulldogs are in the next two weeks when they head on the road to face Kentucky and Alabama.

Pitt RB Israel Abanikanda: Izzy Abanikanda was not going to let his team lose. He got hurt in last week's disappointing home loss to Georgia Tech but was back with a vengeance against Virginia Tech. In a 45-29 win, Abanikanda rushed for a whopping 326 yards and six touchdowns for the Panthers. The six touchdowns tied an ACC single-game record and the yardage broke Tony Dorsett's program record. Dorsett had 303 yards vs. Notre Dame in 1975.

TCU: The Horned Frogs took down Kansas 38-31 on the biggest day for Kansas football since the 2008 Orange Bowl. Max Duggan threw three TDs and ran for another and connected 14 times with Quentin Johnston. Their final pass and catch was a phenomenal connection for the go-ahead score with less than two minutes left. The TCU offense has shown its one of the best in the Big 12 so far this season and the defense has done enough to get by. We'll see if the defense can keep Oklahoma State in check next week in what could be an early Big 12 title game preview.

Purdue: After a 1-2 start, Purdue has now won three straight and is in the thick of the race in the Big Ten West. The Boilermakers outlasted Maryland 31-29 on the road Saturday to improve to 4-2 on the year and 2-1 in conference play. Purdue scored twice in the final 3:19 to flip a 23-17 deficit into a 31-23 lead. And then the defense stopped a potential game-tying Maryland two-point conversion try to seal the win. Five of Purdue's final six games will be against divisional opponents. Can the Boilermakers get to Indianapolis?

San Jose State: SJSU is sitting in an excellent position in the Mountain West's West division. SJSU improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in conference play with a 40-7 beatdown over UNLV on Friday night. In the win, Chevan Cordeiro threw for 230 yards, rushed for 109 yards and combined for four touchdowns. SJSU has won its last three games by an average margin of 26 points. UNLV is the only other team in the division with a winning record, so the Spartans have a very favorable remaining schedule and a clear path to the Mountain West title game.

Georgia Tech: How about the Yellow Jackets? Georgia Tech has won back-to-back games under interim coach Brent Key following the firing of Geoff Collins. Last week, Tech upset Pitt on the road. This week was a 23-20 overtime upset of Duke at home. Duke scored two TDs in the final six minutes to send the game to overtime, but the Yellow Jackets were able to win it in extra time. The Yellow Jackets are now 3-3 overall with a 2-1 mark in ACC play. Can they make some noise in a crowded ACC Coastal?

Navy: Navy is playing significantly better following an ugly 0-2 start to the season. The Midshipmen lost to FCS Delaware and then were blown out by Memphis to begin the season. Since then, Navy has a road win over East Carolina, a three-point loss to Air Force and then an impressive 53-21 win over Tulsa on Saturday. This is the best Navy's option attack has looked in quite some time. The Midshipmen had 455 rushing yards while forcing four turnovers in the win.

LOSERS

Oklahoma: Was Saturday rock bottom for Oklahoma? The Sooners were trounced 49-0 by rival Texas in the most lopsided result in the history of the Red River Rivalry. Without QB Dillon Gabriel, OU was absolutely lost on offense while the defense allowed 585 yards of offense. Oklahoma is 3-3 for the first time since 2009 and 0-3 in Big 12 play for the first time since 1998. The Brent Venables era in Norman is off to an ugly start.

Miami: The Hurricanes looked much better than they did in the embarrassing loss to Middle Tennessee, but they still couldn't get a win over North Carolina on Saturday. Miami lost 27-24 to drop to 2-3 in Mario Cristobal's first season as head coach. Miami had 539 yards of offense but had a pair of costly turnovers and was a combined 8-of-20 on third and fourth down. Tyler Van Dyke threw for 496 yards in the loss after getting benched in his last outing, so at least that's something to build on for the Hurricanes as they head to Virginia Tech next week.

Washington: The Huskies are suddenly 1-2 in the Pac-12 after a 45-38 loss at Arizona State on Saturday. Washington had a 10-3 lead early in the second quarter and never led again after three consecutive ASU TDs. Washington had two chances to get a game-tying TD in the fourth quarter after ASU went ahead for good with 7:27 to go and those drives totaled 20 plays. But they both ended with failed fourth-and-long conversions. The Huskies are a much better team than they were a season ago and an eight-win season is still very achievable. But any thoughts that Washington was a contender to win the Pac-12 this season were probably premature.

Memphis: Oh, what a collapse for the Tigers. Memphis led Houston 32-19 with 4:04 to go after a 39-yard field goal by Chris Howard. But Houston went on to score 14 points in the final 1:17 to eke out a 33-32 win. Houston immediately went on a 12-play drive after that Howard field goal to cut the lead to six and then recovered an onside kick. Six plays after that, Clayton Tune found KeSean Carter for a 2-yard TD pass with 18 seconds left. Memphis could have been 5-1 had it hung on to the two-TD lead. Instead, it's 4-2 and heads to East Carolina and Tulane for back-to-back tough road contests the next two weeks.

Rutgers: Rutgers had a 13-0 halftime lead over Nebraska on Friday night but were shut out in the second half in a 14-13 loss. Greg Schiano is in his third season back with the Scarlet Knights but he has yet to bring in any competent quarterback play. Noah Vedral and Evan Simon were a combined 12-of-30 for 233 yards and three interceptions in the loss, wasting a good effort from the defense. Rutgers is now 3-11 at home since Schiano returned. None of those wins came in conference play.

Northwestern: Things have really deteriorated for Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern. The Wildcats dropped to 1-5 with a 42-7 home loss to Wisconsin and are now 4-14 over the past two seasons with a 2-10 record in Big Ten play. This year, the Wildcats opened the season with a win over Nebraska in Dublin. Since then, they've lost four straight and have scored 28 points combined in the past three weeks. Northwestern had three more turnovers vs. Wisconsin, putting the total at 16 for the year.

Nevada: Jay Norvell left Nevada for Colorado State after last season and those two teams met on the field in Reno on Friday night. It was a bit contentious with the Wolf Pack hoping to stick it to their old coach, whose Rams entered the night winless. Norvell would get the last laugh, though, as CSU emerged with a 17-14 victory. Both of CSU's touchdowns came from its defense, including this wacky fumble return on an inexplicable play from Nevada's running back.

Northern Illinois: NIU won the MAC last year and managed to go 7-2 in one-score games along the way. This year, the Huskies have fallen back down to earth. NIU was 1-4 in one-score games to start the year and is now 1-5 following a 52-32 home loss to Toledo on Saturday. The Huskies had four turnovers in the loss, which dropped them to 0-2 in MAC play.