Houston lost its shot at the College Football Playoff with stunning loss to Navy

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:28 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

It was always a long shot that Houston would make the College Football Playoff this season. It was always going to take the perfect blend of everything going right for the Cougars and just enough chaos across the rest of the country to see Houston lined up with an Alabama, Ohio State or Michigan on New Year’s Eve.

Sadly, we’ll never know the result of that what-if proposition after the Cougars lost a 46-40 stunner Saturday at Navy. With the loss, Houston’s playoff dreams died.

For Houston, everything that could go wrong did on Saturday. The Cougars faced a good Navy team (which has won 15 of its past 18 games dating back to the beginning of last season) and did it in lousy weather conditions in Annapolis. Even worse, the Cougars were uncharacteristically sloppy, turning the ball over three times, including two interceptions from Greg Ward Jr. Navy controlled the time of possession and just when it seemed like the Cougars might make a run trailing 41-33, a snap went over the head of their punter and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. Even a late touchdown rally wasn’t enough to pull out the victory.

The Cougars needed a 13-0 record and an AAC title to even be considered for the playoff, plus some chaos from the Power 5 conferences. It seemed likely that there would have to be at least two Power 5 conferences with multiple-loss champions for Houston to steal a bid, and recent losses by Oklahoma (which Houston beat in Week 1) and Louisville (which they play later in the year) cost the Cougars the opportunities they needed to grab major out-of-conference wins to impress the committee.

Houston is obviously the biggest loser with Saturday’s defeat but so, too, are college football fans nationwide. With wins over Florida State last year in the Peach Bowl and the over Sooners to open the 2016 campaign, the Cougars have proven they can play with anyone in the country. It would have been fun to see them face a Jim Harbaugh-coached Michigan team or Nick Saban and Alabama, to see if they could have hung with them for four quarters on college football’s biggest stage.

Ultimately, we’ll never know.

Houston lost Saturday, and its College Football Playoff dreams died with it.