This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Two different answers follow here — one external and one internal — to what has emerged as the big heavy on everyone's mind, the question of the moment and the season: What has to happen for Utah to make the College Football Playoff?

The Utes are slotted 10th in the latest CFP rankings. The teams in front of them are 9-0 Clemson, 8-1 Alabama, 9-0 Ohio State, 8-1 Notre Dame, 9-0 Iowa, 8-0 Baylor, 8-1 Stanford, 9-0 Oklahoma State, and 7-1 LSU.

The single most important game for Utah in which it isn't actually playing is the Nov. 28 match of Stanford and Notre Dame. If both teams win their remaining regular-season games prior to (Stanford plays Oregon and Cal at home, Notre Dame plays Wake Forest at home and Boston College at Fenway Park), then the Cardinal must beat the Irish to knock them out.

That sets up Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game against Stanford on Dec. 5 at Levi's Stadium, where the Utes must win.

Two down and a whole lot more to go.

Clemson isn't likely to lose, playing at Syracuse, Wake Forest at home and at South Carolina before the ACC Championship game. There, the Tigers could play 8-1 North Carolina. If they drop any of those games, the combination of [lack of] quality of opponent and timing could clear them out.

The most dangerous regular-season game left for Alabama is at Mississippi State this week. Thereafter, the Tide plays Charleston Southern and at Auburn, a rivalry game, but one that looks one-sided this time around. In the SEC Championship game, Florida likely awaits.

Before the Big Ten Championship game, Ohio State faces Illinois on the road, Michigan State at home, and Michigan at the Big House. That's a tough road, especially playing the Wolverines. If the Buckeyes make it through all of that, they will probably battle Iowa in the title game. The Hawkeyes have yet to play Minnesota, Purdue and Nebraska. If Iowa goes unbeaten into the Big Ten Championship and Ohio State beats them, the Hawks are out of the way. It might take two losses to eliminate the Buckeyes.

For all the criticism Baylor has heard for playing nobody, everything changes over the next few weeks. The Bears face Oklahoma, then Oklahoma State, then TCU and, finally, Texas. Oklahoma State must lose to either Baylor or Oklahoma. A loss by both, a decent proposition, knocks them out.

LSU's run includes Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and the SEC title game. Since the Tigers lost to the Crimson Tide, they likely will not make it to the championship date. The question is, can Ole Miss knock them off?

The three teams immediately behind the Utes —Florida, Oklahoma and Michigan State — add another complication. Will any of them leapfrog Utah?

Here's the best-case scenario: Stanford beats Notre Dame, Utah beats Stanford, Clemson stumbles (not likely, but …), Alabama wins out, Michigan wins the Big Ten, Baylor beats Oklahoma but loses to Oklahoma State, Oklahoma State loses to Oklahoma.

Bingo.

Barring some awfully tough-to-justify political gymnastics on the part of the committee — something not beyond those members, given explanations of rankings thus far by committee chair Jeff Long (basically their discussions are no different, no more sophisticated than the convos you and your work buddies have around the water cooler every week) — the Utes are in.

The second answer: Utah continues to play rock-steady football, through Arizona, UCLA, Colorado and Stanford. The Utes go on causing opponents' turnovers, not as some act of desperation by an inferior team, rather as a savvy, experienced bunch that relies on defense and special teams and field position, and just enough offense to win. Utah has matched up well against Stanford in the past and can do so again on Dec. 5.

For Ute fans frightened to peek between their fingers at these possibilities, imagining themselves as part of the actual team, forcing themselves to take it one game at a time, focusing solely on Arizona and only Arizona this week, lighten up. Half the fun of a season like this is beaming up on the big screen in your brain's image of what might be. If it doesn't happen, then it doesn't.

Thing is, it's complicated, but it could. And that's pretty cool.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.