Bowl Projections 2015: CFP Predictions for Biggest Playoff Sleepers

Although the creation of a four-team playoff creates a more inclusive national championship race, you can already cross off a handful of teams in the initial College Football Playoff ranking as serious title contenders.

You can view the CFP poll below:

The likes of UCLA, Temple, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Michigan and Mississippi State are already out of the playoff discussion as a result of defeat(s) they have already accrued.

However, a few schools sit further back in the ranking but could continue to sneak up the poll as the season goes on.

Utah, Stanford and Iowa fall under that designation but shouldn't really qualify as sleepers because the Hawkeyes are unbeaten, while the Utes and Cardinal are the two best teams in the Pac-12.

The two teams below, on the other hand, still have quite a bit of work to do in order to impress the committee. By no means are they favorites for the top four, but they may control their own destiny the rest of the way.

Oklahoma Sooners

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

When discussing the Big 12 teams most slighted by the committee in the initial rankings, TCU and Baylor receive most of the attention. Then, Oklahoma State is a distant third.

As a result of its defeat to Texas, Oklahoma isn't even in the conversation right now, nor does it deserve to be. But the beauty of the Big 12 is that everybody plays everybody else, so the Sooners will get their shot at the Horned Frogs, Bears and Cowboys in due time.

The schedule favors Oklahoma to a certain extent.

It plays Baylor on the road on Nov. 14. While the Bears will be extremely difficult to beat in Waco, Texas, the game will also be Jarrett Stidham's first significant test as a starting quarterback.

The Sooners then face off with TCU at home and Oklahoma State on the road, so they at least have the more difficult of those two matchups at Memorial Stadium.

Because of Oklahoma's lackluster loss to the Longhorns and Bob Stoops' record in big games, counting on the Sooners is somewhat perilous. The Sooners could've easily lost to Tennessee earlier in the year, and that victory over West Virginia looks worse and worse with each passing week.

But Oklahoma ranks eighth in Football Outsiders' F/+ rating, which is a combination of the Fremeau Efficiency Index and S&P+ rating and aims to provide the most accurate ranking system possible.

Bleacher Report's Ben Kercheval analyzed some of the advanced metrics at BCF Toys, which measure points per drive in certain situations. The numbers show the Sooners have one of the stronger defenses in the Big 12, which Kercheval believes is the key to the team's playoff push.

"Oklahoma's success on defense is important because Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State rank first, second and fifth in the Big 12 in points per game, respectively. All average at least 44 points per game," he wrote.

Whoever wins the Big 12—and there will actually be one recognized champion this year—should be headed to the playoff this year.

As long as Oklahoma doesn't play to type and crumble in its biggest regular-season games, the Sooners could by vying for the national championship by season's end.

Ole Miss Rebels

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

If Ole Miss wins out, there's a chance the Rebels win the SEC championship. They own the tiebreaker over Alabama should the two teams finish with identical conference records. Ole Miss has also yet to play LSU, and a win over the Tigers would mean climbing to sole possession of first in the SEC West.

With an 11-2 record, Ole Miss would have wins over Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU and Mississippi State. The Rebels would also presumably beat Florida in the conference championship, thus avenging their sole SEC defeat.

Ole Miss looked on the way to securing a top-four spot last year, but the defeat to Auburn was the end of the Rebels' playoff bid. They also lost Laquon Treadwell in that game, which really seemed to have a big effect on the rest of the team.

"We want a championship," Treadwell said Thursday, per ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf. "We wanted that last year, but the loss, with me going out, it kind of ... it was all mental. The game is mental. And a team going through that? It’s hard to bounce back from something like that."

If Ole Miss' key players can stay healthy, the playoff isn't outside the realm of possibility for Hugh Freeze's team. While the Rebels defense isn't as dominant as it was a year ago, the offense has improved with Chad Kelly at quarterback.

Any team that can go into Tuscaloosa, Alabama and beat the Tide is capable of winning a national championship.

The question is whether the committee would include a two-loss Ole Miss in the playoff even if it wins the SEC. ESPN.com's Heather Dinich believes the Memphis Tigers, who beat the Rebels on Oct. 17, would have a stronger case should they go unbeaten:

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Maybe this is all it would take to see the CFP expand overnight. The more realistic scenario is that Memphis would garner serious consideration for a playoff spot from the selection committee. The Tigers would have had a win over the SEC champs, not to mention a win over a ranked Houston team and possibly two wins over a ranked Temple team. That résumé could trump a two-loss SEC champ that lost to Memphis.

"

Memphis has games against Houston and Temple ahead, so the Tigers would have a strong argument for the playoff if they're unbeaten by season's end.

Still, college football anarchists or those angling for an eight-team playoff surely must be rooting for Ole Miss to win the SEC to throw everything into disarray.