Utah brought a No. 7 national ranking and College Football Playoff aspirations with it to Gainesville, Florida over the weekend.

As Florida linebacker Amari Burney lunged at a Cameron Rising pass from the 6-yard-line, seemingly everything went out the window. The Utes lost to the Gators inside The Swamp, 29-26, Saturday night in a game that was an instant classic for the impartial fan and a gut-wrencher for Utah faithful. Rising was intercepted at the goal line gunning for the game-winner.

But, according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, that play didn’t dash the Utes’ CFP hopes.

“When I was with you the other day on SportsCenter, I was struggling because I knew you were going to ask me for the winner in that game and I was hoping you wouldn’t. Without having really given it a lot of thought I went ahead and picked Florida because it just seemed so predictable,” the SEC Network host told ESPN’s Matthew Barrie on Sunday. “And I know this is a white-wash of the Pac-12 but it’s easy now to say that. How can you have a lot of faith in them in these opening-season games?

“I agree with some of our friends, Utah is probably not out of it (the CFP race) yet. But I remember Oregon was not out of it either a couple years ago when they lost to Bo Nix and Auburn and they ended up being out of it later on. They (Utah) looked good enough and the ending of the game will give them some credibility if they run the table. They do look like a really good team, but the Gators on a national night figured it out.”

With the loss, Utah probably can’t afford another in conference play. The Utes’ chances of making the CFP, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, dropped to 0.8% on Sunday. It’s Pac-12 foil, USC, jumped up to 5.5%.

No two-loss team has every made the field. The Oregon squad Finebaum mentions finished sixth in the final CFP rankings in 2019 after an 11-2 record.

Utah now likely needs to root for Oregon to rebound, for USC to bring an unbeaten record into its Oct. 15 meeting with the Utes in Salt Lake City, and for Florida to keep winning. They’re not out of it yet, but the path is certainly tougher.