Mizzou’s playoff picture is a little clearer.
Missouri football, after a 6-2 start to its season, received the No. 18 ranking in the first set of rankings released by the College Football Playoff committee. The committee revealed its current top-25 teams in its rankings during a live reveal Tuesday, Nov. 3 on ESPN.
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Both of Mizzou’s losses so far this year have come on the road in SEC play in the state of Mississippi. The Tigers lost a one-score game at Mississippi State, which was at full strength at the time with since-injured quarterback Kamario Taylor. Mizzou was blown out Oct. 17 at Arkansas.
Missouri (6-2, 3-2 SEC) won a then-top-10 game against Florida on Oct. 3 for its best win of the year so far. The Tigers also have Power-conference wins over Texas A&M, Arkansas and Kansas.
There are five other SEC teams, like Mizzou, that have two losses so far this season. A significant question for the opening rankings reveal was where the committee viewed Mizzou in comparison to that group.
Among the two-loss crew, the Tigers were ranked last — below No. 15 Tennessee, No. 14 LSU, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas and No. 5 Alabama.
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South Carolina and Florida, which each have three losses, made it into the season’s first rankings at Nos. 21 and 24, respectively.
Georgia and Kentucky, which are the SEC’s last remaining one-loss teams, were ranked at Nos. 2 and 6, respectively.
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Mizzou was ranked No. 19 in the most recent US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25, released Sunday, Nov. 1.
Selection Sunday for the CFP is Sunday, Dec. 6, which is after the final conference title games have been played.
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Missouri will face Texas this coming Saturday, Nov. 7, in Columbia. Not that it was in much doubt, but Tuesday’s rankings confirmed just how important that game is for the Tigers, who have ground to make up if they are going to make a run at a major postseason game.
After facing the Longhorns, the Tigers’ remaining slate takes Eli Drinkwitz’s team to Georgia on Nov. 14 before back-to-back home games against Kentucky (Nov. 21) and Oklahoma (Nov. 28).
That means Missouri has to face three teams ranked among the top seven of the committee’s initial rankings in three straight weeks.
Because one spot is guaranteed to the Group of Six, Mizzou needs to find its way into the top 11 in the rankings to be a playoff team. The only reasonable path toward making that happen begins with beating No. 7 Texas in Columbia.
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Georgia
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Indiana
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Alabama
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Kentucky
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Ole Miss
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Notre Dame
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Ohio State
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Tennessee
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Texas Tech
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Wake Forest
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Houston
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Missouri
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Southern California
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South Carolina
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Arizona
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Oregon
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Florida
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Boise State
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Where did Missouri football land in first CFP rankings drop of season?
