MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia is in the Top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings, but there is still much work ahead if the Mountaineers are to work their way into the playoff field.
West Virginia (7-1) is ranked ninth in the country following a 42-41 win at Texas, moving up from No. 13 in the initial CFP rankings that were released last week. It’s West Virginia’s first Top-10 appearance in the CFP rankings, which began in 2014. The Mountaineers are getting more respect in the AP and Coaches polls, where they rank seventh and eighth, respectively.
The top eight CFP teams are No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Washington State.
Even though the Mountaineers are on the fringe of the playoff conversation, coach Dana Holgorsen is having none of it. For him, the only goal that matters at this point is reaching the Big 12 championship game.
“We don’t talk about playoff stuff,” Holgorsen said. “The Big 12 Championship, that’s our goal. You can say that’s a lofty goal if you want to, but that’s everybody’s goal in the Big 12 is to play in that game, so that’s what we’re striving for.”
The season finale against Oklahoma looms large for West Virginia in both the Big 12 and playoff conversations. West Virginia and No. 10 Ohio State are the only two teams in the Top 10 with scheduled games remaining against higher-ranked opponents.
For Holgorsen, that’s not even a concern at the moment.
“The only way you remain in that conversation is if you play well the next week,” Holgorsen said. “The only thing we talk about in here is TCU, that’s it. We don’t talk about scenarios, we don’t talk about who would be in that game, we certainly don’t talk about what happens after that game. It’s 100 percent TCU and what we can do to be able to win that game.”