Kansas football ranked No. 16 in latest College Football Playoff rankings

This year’s Kansas football team continues to make noise on the national stage following their incredible 7-2 performance so far this season.

In the latest College Football Playoff rankings released this week, the Jayhawks climbed five spots to No. 16 in the country with three weeks left in the regular season. The ranking comes on the heels of the Jayhawks rising three spots to No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.

This is the final year of the four-team format before the College Football Playoffs expand to 12 teams next year.

While the odds are low that KU will reach the playoffs, these rankings do indicate that the Jayhawks control their own destiny when it comes to reaching a high-profile bowl game – potentially one of the “New Year’s Six” bowl games

The top four teams will play in either the Rose Bowl or the Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff semifinals. That leaves the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl up for grabs for eight more teams when rankings are finalized.

If KU can continue their winning ways, they could very easily find themselves in the top 12, perhaps the top 10, playing in their biggest postseason game since the 2008 Orange Bowl.

The fact that they’re even in the conversation of a New Year’s Six bowl appearance in year three under head coach Lance Leipold is remarkable and a credit to the amazing turnaround he and his staff have provided this program.

But in order to reach one of those bowl games, the Jayhawks will almost surely need to win out against their three remaining opponents: Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Cincinnati. They will also likely need some more losses from the teams in front of them.

The matchups against the Red Raiders (4-5) and Wildcats (6-3) are both at home, while the game against the last-place Bearcats (2-7), who are currently winless in Big 12 games, is in Cincinnati.

KU kicks off against Texas Tech this Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.