Buffaloes No. 8 in CFP rankings, but can they climb into final four?

For the fourth straight week, the Colorado Buffaloes moved up in the College Football Playoff rankings, this week to No. 8 after beating No. 20-ranked Utah to win the Pac-12 South division on Saturday.

The Buffs (10-2) jump ahead of Oklahoma, which slipped to No. 9 from the Week 12 poll, and will play No. 4 Washington on Friday night for the Pac-12 Championship.

However, even if the Buffs beat the Huskies, CU still needs some help even to possibly get a shot at making the final four teams vying for a championship.

“Here’s how I’ve got it figured, we need Virginia Tech to beat Clemson, we need to beat Washington, and really it probably would be best if Wisconsin beat Penn State. And if all that happens, we deserve to jump Michigan and get in there,” DMac, co-host of 104.3 The Fan’s “The Drive,” said as the Week 13 rankings were revealed.

Clemson, third in the ranking, takes on No. 23 Virginia Tech in the ACC Conference title game while No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Penn State will play in the Big 10 championship.

No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Michigan, who played in an overtime thriller last week with the Buckeyes coming out victorious, will not play this weekend, likely leading to at least one non-conference champion making the tournament.

Top-ranked Alabama will play No. 15 Florida in the SEC title game Saturday, though a loss wouldn’t likely sink the Crimson Tide out of the playoff picture.

But first, to even sniff the final four, the Buffs need to beat Washington, which would land them in the Rose Bowl.

“To get back to the coach speak and the football player in me, you’ve just got to stop thinking about all that stuff because we’ve got an opportunity to win a Pac-12 championship,” said 104.3 The Fan analyst and CU alum Tyler Polumbus, joining “The Drive” from the Buffaloes practice in Boulder Tuesday.

Polumbus added: “If they win this thing, they’re going to the Rose Bowl, a bowl game that was complete fantasy land six months ago. I’m just trying to live in the moment.”

A Pac-12 title would be even that much more significant to CU after winning just five conference games since joining in 2011. In 2016 alone, the Buffs have nearly doubled that mark, going 8-1 in the Pac-12.

“Talking to Sefo (Liufau) this morning, Tedric Thompson, listening to those guys speak at the press conference, they think that nobody out there believes in them. Of course they don’t. Nobody thought that Colorado would be in a bowl game let alone the Pac-12 championship,” Polumbus said.

“So these guys are enjoying this moment. And they know nobody else out there is going to vote them into the playoffs unless they force them to. If they beat Washington, they might just force them to have that conversation if a few things fall in their favor.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.