CBS Sports Lists Texas, Iowa State as Teams That Can Make First CFB Playoff in 2021
The College Football Playoff is getting quite predictable. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and then fill in the blank: Notre Dame, Oklahoma, etc. I’m generalizing, but that’s how it feels like the last few years have gone.
So CBS Sports put together a list of the eight teams that can make their first College Football Playoff in 2021 and there were two Big 12 teams to make the cut.
The first team listed was the Texas Longhorns. CBS did this as a “draft” set up, where their writers could pick teams in order.
Texas earned the No. 2 pick in this theoretical draft, with the following reasoning, “Here we see the Steve Sarkisian hype in full effect … on the idea that we could see some real steps forward in the first years of this new era in Austin. Casey Thompson’s bowl performance was mentioned as a notable reason for excitement on the field, along with Bijan Robinson’s projected ascension to stardom as a featured weapon in Sarkisian’s offense. Texas has been able to assemble a strong staff of assistant coaches and the roster is certainly talented enough to compete against Oklahoma in the Big 12, so now we wait to see if Sark can accomplish what no Texas coach has done since Mack Brown in 2009: win the conference championship.”
Then, after the first round, which was a total of four picks between their writers, the Iowa State Cyclones were the No. 2 pick in the second round.
The Iowa State pick is explained with the following, “This is a pick with 2021 in mind as Brock Purdy, Breece Hall and what seems like a dozen All-Big 12 picks will be back for the Cyclones in hopes of finishing the job and winning the Big 12. Iowa State has proven it can beat Oklahoma and deserves a spot in the College Football Playoff conversation, even garnering more respect from the selection committee with two losses than undefeated and one-loss teams who were ranked lower heading into championship weekend. If Iowa State can be in striking distance with two losses this season, then that same crew should be ready to make another run at its first-ever playoff in 2021 and could have even better positioning if it can avoid a non-conference slip-up early in the year.”
Obviously the Oklahoma Sooners are a team that has been to the College Football Playoff several times, so they wouldn’t be on the list. But one thing is clear, this is still Oklahoma’s conference. They’ve won six Big 12 titles in a row and may be poised to have their most balanced team ever under Lincoln Riley in 2021.
But already, Texas and Iowa State are chomping at the bit.
