CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Wednesday afternoon, an Arizona State team projected to finish last in the Big 12 nearly reached the final four of the College Football Playoff, falling 39-31 to Texas in a double-overtime thriller in the Peach Bowl.

Twelve days earlier, Indiana, a program with a 3-24 Big Ten record from 2021-23, finished a Cinderella season with an 11-2 record and 27-17 playoff loss to Notre Dame.

The larger playoff field is a game-changer — and expectation-raiser — in college football. The Big Ten, for example, landed four teams in the 12-team field. Coaches see a prize no longer reserved for just the upper crust.

“It’s a real goal for us,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said Thursday. “When you start to see some of the teams that were not only in it, played in it, anybody’s got a shot. I’m not saying it can happen every single year, but absolutely [it’s possible]. … We talk about it with our players. We talk about how close we were this year.”

Fleck points to the Gophers’ 3-4 record in one-score games this season as how close and how far the Gophers were to that aim. Included in that was the 26-25 home loss to Penn State on Nov. 23 — against the same Nittany Lions team that’s advanced to the playoff semifinals.

Starting with lofty goals

Quinn Carroll, a senior offensive tackle for the Gophers, will play his final collegiate game Friday. He gave a glimpse of the players’ aspirations.

“At the beginning of the season, that was our goal,” Carroll said. “Ever since January when we knew this would be the new rule with a 12-team playoff, with our schedule and with how talented we are … we can play with anybody. Looking back at a lot of games this year, losing by one point, two points, three points, you understand we could have and probably should have been there.”