“Big 12 grateful for Tulane’s stumble against Memphis”

The sigh of relief felt in the hours after a Thanksgiving feast in places like Tempe, Ames, Provo, Little Apple and Boulder was the result of double-digit underdog Memphis pulling out a double-digit win at Tulane, 34-24. posted on Thursday evening.

With the Green Wave blowing their chance at the playoffs, what will happen next week at home or at West Point against Army in the American Conference championship game is likely to be the Black Knights when they visit UTSA on Saturday come out – likely to have happened No impact on the CFP. At No. 17, Tulane ranked ahead of Iowa State, BYU, Kansas State and Colorado. Only No. 16 Arizona State was ahead of Jon Sumrall’s team. Obviously that will change when the penultimate playoff rankings come up on Tuesday evening.

Now there may not be a team in the top 12 of the rankings after next week’s championship games. That won’t matter, as the conference champs would finish at No. 12 if Tulane were out of the picture.

Facing the odds of the Green Wave making the playoffs along with No. 11 Boise State, two Group of Five conference champions, the Big 12 slept soundly Thursday night knowing they have a clear path to the playoffs and not eliminated are out. (Remember, it’s the top five ranked conference champions taking the field. Not the top ranked Power Four conference champions plus one from the Group of Five.)

Nine teams still have a chance to win the Big 12. Here’s a look at the five that ranked in the CFP top 25 over the holiday weekend.

No. 16 Arizona State (9-2/6-2 Big 12) | at Arizona (4-7/2-6 Big 12) | Saturday 3:30 pm ET | FOX

The Sun Devils are in the driver’s seat. Defeat Arizona in the Territorial Cup battle on Saturday and travel to Arlington for the Big 12 Championship. If they lose, they could still make it to the conference title game, but would need help that would come from the numerous tiebreaker scenarios. Kenny Dillingham’s team jumped five spots after holding off BYU last week.

No. 18 Iowa State (9-2/6-2 Big 12) | vs. No. 24 Kansas State (8-3/5-3 Big 12) | Saturday 7:30 ET | FOX

The Cyclones find themselves in a similar position to Arizona State, as a win over No. 24 Kansas State in Farmageddon means a reservation in Arlington. If you lose, given the many scenarios mentioned above, there is still a chance with the Sun Devils to play for the conference title. Iowa State was unranked after consecutive losses to Texas Tech and Kansas. They bounced back with wins against Cincinnati and at Utah.

No. 19 BYU (9-2/6-2 Big 12) vs. Houston (4-7/3-5 Big 12) | Saturday 10:15 ET | ESPN

The Cougars were 9-0 and ranked No. 6 in the CFP before falling 13 spots after home losses to Kansas and Arizona State. BYU has to beat visiting Houston on Saturday and otherwise hope for good luck elsewhere. Especially the losses of the teams ahead of them, Arizona State and Iowa State.

No. 24 Kansas State (8-3/5-3 Big 12) and No. 18 Iowa State (9-2/6-2 Big 12) | Saturday 7:30 ET | FOX

The Wildcats kept their championship game hopes alive by beating Cincinnati last week. The win followed consecutive losses at Houston and against visiting Arizona State. At least Kansas State is playing a ranked team on Saturday. That could help, as a win over the Cyclones and losses from three of the four two-loss teams in the conference could pave the way.

No. 25 Colorado (8-3/6-2 Big 12) vs. Oklahoma State (3-8/0-8 Big 12) | Friday noon ET | ABC

The Buffaloes overcame a midseason loss to Kansas State with four straight wins to climb to 16th place and firmly among the playoff bubble teams. A loss last week at Kansas nearly burst that bubble. Still, they have a chance to get to Arlington if they take care of business at home against an Oklahoma State team that is winless in conference play and get help in the form of back-to-back losses to Arizona State, Iowa State and BYU.