What the Big 12 commissioner thinks of Utah's College Football Playoff hopes

Utah will find out whether it has a chance at clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff when the selection committee unveils its penultimate rankings Tuesday ahead of Sunday's final bracket reveal.

The Utes (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) would more than likely need to land in the top 10 of the CFP rankings to qualify as an at-large team — given Texas Tech and BYU will play for an automatic bid on Saturday in the Big 12 championship game.

While Utah has been left on the outside of the projected 12-team bracket since the weekly rankings began on Nov. 4, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark believes the committee shouldn't be quick to dismiss the Utes as they sort through their contenders and at-large hopefuls.

"I feel very strongly about Texas Tech and BYU," Yormark said during a media availability session. "I also think Utah deserves consideration — strong consideration. I said that on Friday night when I was at the ASU-Arizona game on Fox and I'll continue to beat that drum because I strongly believe it."

Ironically, it was that same game that put the nail in the coffin on Utah's Big 12 title game aspirations. The Utes needed the Sun Devils to beat the Wildcats and have BYU defeat UCF and West Virginia to upset Texas Tech (the latter of which didn't happen anyway) in order to create a multi-team tie in the conference standings and earn a spot in the league title game in Arlington, Texas.

But that didn't happen, as the Wildcats left Tempe, Arizona, with a 23-7 victory after the Utes handled their own business in a 31-21 win over Kansas earlier in the day on Black Friday.

Utah's conference championship hopes were dashed, but it still clung to its College Football Playoff hopes until the very end. It helped that the Utes ranked No. 15 in the country in strength of record and were among an exclusive group of 11 teams that boasted a top 25 offense and defense heading into Tuesday's rankings reveal (5 p.m. MT, ESPN).

However, if the Week 14 edition of the Associated Press Top 25 poll indicated anything, it was that Utah would most likely get leapfrogged by other power conference teams in the CFP rankings. In particular, Vanderbilt and Texas made compelling cases over the weekend as the Commodores beat then-No. 18 Tennessee, 45-24, and the Longhorns knocked off then-No. 3 Texas A&M, 27-17.

Vanderbilt was No. 14 in the previous CFP rankings — right behind Utah at No. 13 — while Texas checked in at No. 16. No. 15 Michigan's 27-9 loss to No. 1 Ohio State will most likely free up room for the Longhorns to make an ascension and potentially snag an at-large bid.

Miami, which came in at No. 12 in the previous CFP rankings, strengthened its case with a dominant 38-7 win over a Pitt team that was ranked No. 22. That probably didn't help out Utah, though, given Miami had a stronger strength of record (No. 14 in the country) and strength of schedule (No. 44 to the Utes' No. 57 ranking) following Saturday's results.

Also working against Utah is the conference champion stipulation coded into the College Football Playoff selection process. The committee's five highest-ranked conference champions will earn automatic bids, regardless of Power 4 or Group of 5 status. And because teams from only three conferences (SEC, Big Ten and Big 12) occupy the top 12 spots currently, room will need to be made so two more conferences can be represented in the final bracket, which is why any at-large bid contender on the outside of the top 12 would have to move up into the top 10, most likely, to be on the right side of the cut line.

That all said, Utah's path to the playoff appears bleak going into conference championship week. Tuesday's rankings reveal could either stoke or crush any last hopes the Utes have of competing for a national championship.

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