Utah's route to the college football playoffs

Saturday's action in college football helped provide a little bit of clarity with the final college football playoff ranking just four weeks away. In a rare occurrence, both the No. 3 and No. 4 teams lost on Saturday, much to the excitement of the Pac-12 and Big-12.

No. 3 Alabama, a staple in the CFP picture since its inception in 2014, was down 33-13 at the break before its second-half comeback fell short in its 46-41 loss to No. 2 LSU. While the final score may indicate a close game, the Crimson Tide were never fully in the game as it always felt as if LSU was in complete control, despite Alabama closing the gap to one-score games multiple times.

No. 4 Penn State found itself down 24-13 at the half to undefeated and No. 17 Minnesota, but was unable to pull out the victory as its once stingy defense picked a terrible time for its worst performance of the year. The Nittany Lions fell 31-26, putting its CFP hopes in jeopardy.

With No. 1 Ohio State routing Maryland and No. 5 Clemson taking down NC State, the projected next Final Four rankings should look as follows; No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Utah — giving the Pac-12 two teams ranked in the top-7.

While the Utes may still be on the outside looking in, the path to the CFP playoff got a lot more clear with the losses by Alabama and Penn State. Playing out the rest of the season as expected, with LSU, Ohio State and Clemson all winning out and taking the top three seeds in the CFP, the battle for No. 4 is to be a hot topic.

Here's how Utah gets that bid:

1.) How LSU, Ohio State and Clemson winning out helps: With LSU winning out, that means that Georgia will be eliminated from contention with a loss in the SEC Championship game. Ohio State eliminates every other team in the Big-10, including Minnesota, and the ACC is so bad that nobody emerges as a threat besides Clemson.

2.) What happens to Alabama: The Crimson Tide's loss is a massive shot in the foot considering they won't face another ranked opponent until they meet No. 11 Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 30. If Alabama loses to the Tigers, that further helps the Pac-12's case, but if Alabama wins out, it will stand at 11-1 with its best (and only ranked) win coming against Auburn. It's hard to envision the committee putting in a Crimson Tide team with ONE ranked win on the season, let alone a squad that didn't even win its division.

3.) Oklahoma is still hanging around: The committee made a huge statement by putting one-loss Oklahoma behind both Oregon and Utah. They're basically saying that Oklahoma's loss to Kansas State was worse that Utah's loss to USC and Oregon's loss to No. 11 Auburn. Oklahoma has a huge matchup with undefeated and No. 12 Baylor this upcoming weekend, and a win could potentially vault the Sooners ahead of both the Utes and Ducks. But Ute fans shouldn't fret because...

4.) Oregon needs to win out: The best (and most likely) scenario is Oregon winning out en route to the Pac-12 Championship game. If that happens, there's a very good chance the Ducks could be ranked No. 5 before its showdown with the Utes for Pac-12 supremacy.

5.) What Utah needs to do: Obviously win out, it's that simple. A win over a top-5 Oregon team in the Pac-12 championship game is a statement-made to the CFP committee in the days before the final rankings come out. That win SHOULD vault the Utes ahead of both Oklahoma and Alabama and into the final spot in the CFP rankings. Alabama and Oklahoma will both be idle the final weekend before the committee makes its picks, giving Utah one final chance at impression.

If all that happens, which is fairly reasonable, Utah should grab the No. 4 seed and matchup with No. 1 LSU in the Fiesta Bowl (probably) with No. 2 Ohio State taking on No. 3 Clemson in the Peach Bowl.