This year’s playoff structure is complicated. Take the Army Black Knights for instance. Dominance marked each of their games this season except for a lone 49-14 loss to Notre Dame. They just dominated Tulane 35-14 in the AAC Championship game to improve their record to 11-1. But they’re still not eligible for the College Football Playoffs! Let’s explore their situation that kept them off the big games. 

Some of the winners of this weekend’s conference championship game will receive an automatic playoff. The four Power Four conference winners and one Group of Five winner playing this weekend will be the lucky ones. And the teams with the top four seeds will receive a first-round bye and advance to face the winners of the first round. But even after their dominating conference title win, the Army is in a different situation. 

In another scenario, Army would’ve been in the mix for the playoffs with their record and the way they won the AAC Championship game. But a Mountain West school is already in contention for the playoffs as the Group of Five team, which is No. 10 Boise State. Since they’re ranked far ahead of the Black Knights who sit at No. 23, they’re the unrivaled contenders.

Even if Boise State somehow falls in an upset loss against UNLV, it’s still a long shot for the Army Black Knights. They’re still behind No. 20 UNLV, and no comparison is going to top the Rebels beating a top-10 team. But now that the Broncos emerged as the Mountain West Championship winner with their 21-7 victory, even a huge win against Navy next week doesn’t look hopeful as the winner of the Mountain West will be getting the automatic playoff spot. But are there any other chances?

Can the Army Black Knights still be an at-large team?

Army’s fresh out of securing the top five playoff spots for conference winners. But can they still find a place among the following seven highest-ranked at-large teams that round up the 12-team playoff bracket? Despite incurring just one loss, the sad news is that Army didn’t reach the level of the 3-loss SEC Alabama and 2-loss ACC Miami. These two powerhouses round up the No. 11 and No. 12 spots in the 2024 playoff picture. 

While Army will have to wave their playoff hopes goodbye, we can’t say they haven’t achieved great feats this season. They appeared in and won their first conference championship game! The Black Knights will likely finish with an incredible record against Navy who will have to bear their playoff frustration in Week 16.