Illinois Football: Everything the Illini need to make the College Football Playoff

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PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 29: Jake Bobo #9 of the UCLA Bruins is tackled after his catch by Patrick Fields #24 and Tristan Sinclair #8 of the Stanford Cardinal during a 38-13 UCLA win at Rose Bowl on October 29, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

3. UCLA falls to USC

Loss to USC on November 19
2 losses – Eliminated

The PAC 12 might end up being the most difficult conference to navigate for the Illinois football team. They have three pesky teams up there in the top 15, and it just makes things harder to iron out.

I would love to get UCLA out of the picture so they aren’t in the mix anymore. The way to do that is to have them lose one of their final games down the stretch.

UCLA doesn’t have an extremely hard schedule to finish out, though. Three out of their final four games are at Arizona State, vs Arizona, and at California. All three of those are likely going to be wins. But there is also a matchup against No. 9 USC.

This is where things get a little tough for Illinois. Both teams are ahead of the Illini in the College Football Playoff rankings, but in this scenario, I am going to need the Trojans to take out the Bruins.

If UCLA loses this game, it would give them two losses on the season and only two wins over top 25 programs. Illinois would jump the Bruins in the College Football Playoff rankings. USC would eventually need to lose, but for now, the Trojans will be our friends on November 19.

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