Another league might have played its way out of College Football Playoff contention on Saturday.

Stanford’s overtime win over then-No. 3 Oregon put an enormous dent in the Ducks’ hopes, and the Pac-12’s ambitions of breaking back into the Playoff for the first time since 2017.

Oregon has the biggest signature nonconference win of 2021 (in September at Ohio State) but all of that work was undone by a loss to a Cardinal team that’s just 3-2.

As for the SEC, in addition to the obvious Alabama-Georgia tandem at the top, we have to now at least consider Kentucky. The Wildcats (5-0, 3-0 SEC) have established themselves as a real threat in the East Division after shocking Florida on Saturday. But the next 2 weeks will be the most telling. A home game against LSU and a trip to No. 2 Georgia will tell us if UK is a genuine contender for a CFP spot.

Similarly, we must also mention some other Power 5 teams that are undefeated but lack the preseason hype and/or résumé-boosting big win to work into this conversation yet: Wake Forest (ACC), Michigan State (B1G) and Oklahoma State (Big 12). The Spartans and Cowboys still need to beat teams in their own conference that are perceived to be ahead of them; the Demon Deacons pretty much have to run the table to get in the conversation because the ACC is so weak this season. Finally, Cincinnati remains the Group 5 candidate du jour after winning at Notre Dame. If the Bearcats slip, we’ll consider the CFP candidacy of No. 10 BYU, which has beaten 3 Pac-12 teams.

One note: Oregon is at No. 8 in the AP poll, ahead of No. 9 Michigan, but we’re excluding the Ducks on this list. Why is Oregon not in consideration but Ohio State, which lost at home to Oregon, is here? Because 3 future Buckeyes opponents are ranked in the AP top 11 (not even including Iowa, which is a matchup that would only happen in the B1G title game) whereas Oregon doesn’t have a single ranked team left on its slate. Simply, the Ducks have no chances to get another quality win that would catch the attention of the CFP committee.

These 8 teams are listed in the order of their ranking in the new AP poll. The CFP rankings will debut later this season.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide went old school in beating Ole Miss, running for 210 yards on 50 carries and asking Bryce Young to throw just 26 times. It’s a testimony to this program that it scored 42 points against the Rebels and still didn’t hit its average (now 45.6 ppg). The scary part is, Bama is 4th in the nation in passing efficiency and barely needed that element on Saturday.

Georgia

Another SEC foe, another shutout. But this one was way more impressive. It’s one thing to give up 0 points to Vanderbilt, but doing it against an Arkansas team that came into Athens red hot is quite another. Until Saturday, no SEC team had shut out two league opponents in a season since … Georgia in 2019. And that Dawgs team led the nation in scoring defense. This one is too, at 4.6 points a game.

Iowa

The Hawkeyes put a complete game together in thrashing Maryland on Friday. The Hawkeyes rank 2nd in the nation behind Georgia in scoring defense (11.6 points allowed per game) and lead FBS in turnover margin (plus-2.4 average) after forcing 7 turnovers and committing none against Maryland. The offense shook out of its doldrums by gaining 428 yards against the Terrapins.

Penn State

The Nittany Lions gained a measure of revenge for last year’s stunning loss to Indiana, blanking the Hoosiers 24-0 in Happy Valley. Up next is one of the biggest games anywhere in the nation as PSU visits Iowa City to take on Iowa’s stiff defense. Penn State is 2nd in the nation in red-zone defense, which could be a critical factor against an Iowa team that loves to play smash-mouth offense.

Cincinnati

The Bearcats struck a blow for themselves, the American Athletic Conference and perhaps Group of 5 teams everywhere with a landmark victory Saturday in South Bend over Notre Dame. Now all Cincinnati has to do is run the table (preferably by a lot of wide margins) in AAC play, perhaps hope for more chaos elsewhere and hope that the CFP committee finally looks favorably on a non-Power 5 team.

Oklahoma

The Sooners rank 7th in the nation in rushing defense but 84th in passing defense and, for once, Oklahoma’s offense is struggling to compensate. Lincoln Riley’s squad survived a squeaker against Kansas State and has beaten 4 FBS opponents by an average of just 5.2 points per game. The huge rivalry game with Texas lurks this week, followed by the usually staunch defense of TCU.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes have vaulted to the top of the nation’s total offense rankings after rolling past Rutgers on Saturday. That’s interesting for a team whose new starting quarterback has missed a game and taken some criticism, but everywhere else (receiver, running back, O-line) there is no doubting how good OSU is. The Buckeyes have also risen to, um, 84th in total defense. Just shows what a big hole they started in.

Michigan

The Wolverines have been getting it done on the ground and with defense, in a classic B1G style. But Cade McNamara had a fine day passing as well in Saturday’s 38-17 win at Wisconsin, He threw for 197 yards and 2 TDs against the Badgers, who contained Michigan’s ground game to a 2.5-yard per carry average. The clash with state rival Michigan State is looming on Oct. 30.