Baylor vs. WVU: How the Mountaineers' Win Reshapes Playoff Picture

The top college football teams in the nation continue to crumble. This time, the No. 4 Baylor Bears were shocked by the West Virginia Mountaineers, losing by a score of 41-27 and subsequently being removed from the College Football Playoff picture.

With that, CBS Sports tweeted what everyone was thinking:

While a big win by the Mountaineers will surely result in Baylor plummeting down the nation's hierarchy, it also begins a Week 8 whirlwind within the Top Four spots of the rankings. No. 1 Mississippi State is inactive this week, and No. 3 Ole Miss should handle Tennessee without much of an issue. Then there's the case of a Saturday evening contest between No. 2 Florida State and No. 5 Notre Dame.

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With all of this in mind, we can ask two questions: How do the standings currently look following Baylor's loss? How will they be reordered after a clash between the Seminoles and Fighting Irish? Let's go ahead and address both of those inquiries.

Baylor's 14-point defeat to an unranked team will send it well out of the nation's Top Four teams. That paves the way for Notre Dame to move up to No. 4. But something has to give when the Seminoles take on the Fighting Irish on Saturday night, right?

Yes. But a loss by either team is not as dire as was once anticipated.

Heading into Week 8, it appeared as though the loser of the Notre Dame and Florida State game would need plenty of help from other teams to creep back into the College Football Playoff picture. Following Baylor's loss, that's no longer the case.

Take a look at the current AP poll and you'll notice one thing: Each of the teams ranked from No. 6 through No. 24 have at least one loss already this season. This means a loss by the Seminoles or Irish on Saturday night doesn't result in disqualification from playoff contention.

The Playoff Guru tweeted this notion following West Virginia's upset victory over Baylor:

So here's what we're looking at following the remainder of Week 8, barring any more completely unexpected results:

Rank	Team
1	Mississippi State
2	Winner of Florida State and Notre Dame
3	Ole Miss
4	Auburn

Following that Top Four will be Alabama (should it hold on against Texas A&M), Michigan State and Oregon. While those teams have losses this season, they remain in contention to jump into the mix once again with a one-loss No. 4 team in the fold.

A tweet from ESPN Stats & Info relays an interesting fact with a clash between Mississippi State and Ole Miss remaining on this season's slate:

That certainly adds an interesting wrinkle going forward.

Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star tweeted a reminder regarding the madness that ensued after this week during last season:

The college football season remains very fickle on a weekly basis. Baylor's loss to West Virginia reaffirmed that notion Saturday. There's still plenty of time left before the playoffs begin, and a slew of talented teams remain in the mix.

The end result of Week 8 will be a closer playoff race than we originally expected.