The No. 24 Missouri Tigers never fail to entertain. At this point in the season, a wild finish from this Tigers team, regardless of the opponent, is expected.

Across the college football world, the College Football Playoff picture is getting more clear for most teams. Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State appear to reign supreme at the top of the Big 10, BYU remains the only undefeated team in the Big 12 and Boise State and Army look like the two contenders for the group of five squad to sneak into the playoff. The SEC and ACC, however, still look murky.

It might take a hail mary and some help from other teams, but it doesn’t look like Missouri is quite out of the playoff hunt yet. The Tigers must win out in order to do so and will need one of Alabama, Georgia, or Ole Miss to secure its third loss. Even with those hypothetical results, the Tigers could still miss out. The final three games on the Tigers’ schedule will be the test for whether they can do it or not.

South Carolina: 28-7 win over Vanderbilt
Mississippi State: 33-14 loss to No. 7 Tennessee
Arkansas: Bye week

Next week’s matchup on the road against the South Carolina Gamecocks for Missouri now looks like the most important game of the season. The Gamecocks have now won three in a row, featuring victories over Oklahoma and Texas A&M. LaNorris Sellers is proving himself to be a legitimate SEC quarterback and running back Rocket Sanders is looking like one of the most talented in the country.

On the flip side, the Mississippi State Bulldogs look like one of the worst Power 5 teams in the nation. Under the helm of true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren and a lackluster supporting cast on offense and defense, the Bulldogs have yet to win a conference game. The outlook doesn’t look sunny in that category quite yet, with Van Buren and his offense in need of a dire turnaround to win its last two games. They close the season with Missouri and Ole Miss, which is no easy feat for a struggling team.

The Arkansas Razorbacks had the perfect week for a bye week after getting destroyed by Ole Miss. They face the top-five Texas Longhorns and Louisiana Tech before facing Missouri, with the out-of-conference Bulldogs appearing as the most winnable matchup down the stretch. The Razorback offense had shown flashes of brilliance so far this season and could be a lot for Missouri, and even Texas, to handle if all goes well.

No Missouri wins got any better or worse this week, outside of the Boston College Eagles. They improved to 5-4 after beating Syracuse without quarterback Thomas Castellanos. Running backs Kye Robichaux and Jordan McDonald combined for over 300 yards rushing to take down the Orange in an important victory on bowl implications.

The Alabama Crimson Tide, who boat-raced Missouri at Bryant-Denny Stadium, took down the LSU Tigers on the road. Losing to Alabama was never going to look bad for Missouri and a blowout win over LSU helped that case even more. The fashion of that loss, however, is what makes it ugly on the resume.

No. 21 Washington State: 49-28 win over Nevada
No. 22 Louisville: Bye week
No. 23 Clemson: 24-14 win over Virginia Tech
No. 25 Army: 14-3 win over North Texas

The Miami Hurricanes’ loss to Georgia Tech in the late stages of its game throws a wrench in the ACC, opening it up for SMU and Clemson to have a shot to win. Those two squads, alongside Miami, have as good a shot as any to win the conference and solidify a CFP birth.

Oregon and Ohio State continue to sit pretty atop the Big 10, but an interesting matchup between the Buckeyes and No. 8 Indiana is set up next week to shift the scales of the conference and College Football Playoff Rankings. Penn State isn’t out of the race either with an easy schedule in the back half of its schedule.

Boise State and Army look primed for competition for the group of five playoff spots. An Ashton Jeanty-led Broncos squad continues to take down Mountain West opponents, but the margins of victory have been significantly smaller in recent weeks. The same can’t be said for Army, who continue to win by at least two scores and remain undefeated.

The Washington State Cougars, ranked No. 21 in the country, have a fascinating situation on their hands. They technically are in the Pac-12 but because of the lack of teams in the conference, do not qualify as a conference champion. They also can not make it as a group of five team, so the Cougars’ only chance of making it in is to be in the top-12. That’s not impossible, but finding a resume-building win in the final three games looks unlikely.

Missouri’s College Football Playoff hopes are as much in its own hands as the rest of the college football universe. They will not make it if they don’t win out the rest of the season, but getting help from the rest of the top-12 schools would make a difference, whether it’s in the SEC or outside of it.

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