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The USC Trojans needed a last-minute drive on Saturday night to avoid heartbreak at the hands of their hated crosstown rivals.

It turns out the Trojans' narrow survival boosted their College Football Playoff chances in a major way.

Just as USC was polishing off a 43-38 victory over UCLA, Florida was falling in 37-34 fashion at home to LSU, a combination of results that helped take the Trojans from just 7% to reach the College Football Playoff last Saturday night, per the Allstate Playoff Predictor, to 49.7% after Week 15 results. Clay Helton & Co. will meet Washington for the Pac-12 championship Friday night -- coincidentally, it was the Huskies who last represented the Pac-12 in the CFP back in the 2016 season.

The Florida loss also slightly improved Texas A&M's chances of reaching the playoff for the first time. The Aggies, who were idle after a scheduled game against Ole Miss was canceled, moved from 30.0% last week to 33.7% to make the CFP. Jimbo Fisher's squad is scheduled to face Tennessee in its regular-season finale Saturday.

The team on the business end of Week 15 results was Clemson, which was idle but fell from 52.6% to 45.5% -- and behind USC -- to reach the playoff. The scenario means the Tigers, who fell to Notre Dame in a thriller in South Bend on Nov. 7, likely need a victory over the Fighting Irish in the ACC championship game in Charlotte on Saturday to reach the CFP field for the sixth straight season.

Cincinnati also saw its chances plummet, as the idle Bearcats dropped from 24.1% to 8.7% in advance of their American Athletic Conference title game meeting with Tulsa.

While observers obsess about the makeup of the four-team field over the next week, Alabama will maintain a stranglehold on the odds to win a national championship. The Crimson Tide, 52-3 winners over Arkansas in Week 15, have a 58.7% chance to win it all according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor. Ohio State, at 22.8% is the nearest team to the Tide on that list.

A complete look at this week's Allstate Playoff Predictor: