With two losses, the Stanford Cardinal (7) may not appear to have a typical College Football Playoff (CFP) resume, but they may be able to put themselves in a position to make the Top Four with Pac-12 Championship win.
Stanford's title game matchup with the USC Trojans (20) caps a tough schedule in which the Cardinal have losses that could be considered more valuable than other CFP hopefuls' wins.
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For example, the ACC Coastal champion North Carolina has two wins against FCS programs, while Stanford has losses against Northwestern and Oregon. But even if they beat USC, a highly talented, underachieving team, Stanford will need a Top Four slot to open up.
No matter what happens during championship weekend, the Pac-12 Championship could also wind up being a play-in for the Rose Bowl. But if the winner of the game is voted into the CFP, the Rose Bowl could feature another highly rated team.
"It's going to be an older-school USC-Stanford game to where we're playing a similar style," Stanford head coach David Shaw said in his weekly press conference. "It's a physical style with play-action passes, two every efficient quarterbacks who are well-traveled and been through a lot, and two defenses with a lot of young players who can make some great plays and can give up some plays.
"It's shaping up to be a really exciting game."
