It will also be able to host a semifinal despite its home ground being booked for a religious convention on the weekend of the semifinals.
Otago looked down and out after losing heavily to Hawkes Bay in a Ranfurly Shield challenge on September 14, going down 41-0, but in a huge turnaround it bounced back to post a record winning margin over Waikato at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Sunday, winning 38-7.
The victory has put Otago into fourth position in the Championship with three games to play.
Otago faces a tricky match against the high-flying Tasman side in Nelson this Sunday and then finishes against two Championship sides: Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on October 4, and Manawatu back at Forsyth Barr Stadium on October 10.
The top two sides host semifinals and Manawatu and Hawkes Bay are sitting on top of the standings.
Hawkes Bay looks to have the best chance of finishing top as the Magpies have a game in hand. The Ranfurly Shield holder also plays North Harbour, which is bottom of the Championship, and then winless Wellington, which is bottom of the Premiership.
It meets Manawatu in Palmerston North and finishes with a match against Southland back in Napier.
Both Hawkes Bay and Manawatu will avoid playing the only unbeaten side in the competition, Canterbury, thanks to the vagaries of the ITM Cup draw where not all teams play each other.
Northland, which has been playing above itself this year after starting off the season as many pundits' pick for the wooden spoon, plays the two bottom teams in the Championships - North Harbour and Bay of Plenty - before finishing off with a tough match at Eden Park against Auckland.
The other contender to make the top four appears to be Southland which has to face Canterbury in Christchurch on Sunday. It then takes on Counties-Manukau back home in Invercargill and finishes against Hawkes Bay.
For Otago to grab a top-two placing it will probably need to win its final three matches and hope Northland and Manawatu stumble. Southland appears the biggest threat to Otago but it has three tough games on the run home.
Manawatu, which faces Waikato in Hamilton this Saturday, may get an unexpected bonus over the next couple of weeks after All Black first five-eighth Aaron Cruden was dumped from the national side. The New Zealand Rugby Union said Cruden was free to play for Manawatu.
The semifinals will be played on the weekend of October 17-19, the same time as Forsyth Barr Stadium is hosting a Jehovah's Witnesses' regional convention.
More than 6000 people are expected to attend the convention which starts on Friday, October 17 and ends a couple of days later.
Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said there was no issue about the stadium being double booked.
A window had been secured before the convention was booked to have the ground free for a game to be played at the covered stadium. It was expected to be played on the afternoon or evening of Saturday, October 18.
Otago has made the semifinals of the Championship over the past two years, hosting semifinals in both years. It was knocked out by Hawkes Bay in controversial fashion last year at the semifinal stage and beat Tasman in 2012.
ITM Cup
The run home
Manawatu: v Waikato (a), v Hawkes Bay (h), v Otago (a)
Hawkes Bay: v North Harbour (a), v Wellington (h), v Manawatu (a), v Southland (h)
Northland: v Bay of Plenty (a), v North Harbour (h), Auckland (a)
Otago: v Tasman (a), v Bay of Plenty (a), v Manawatu (h)
Southland: v Canterbury (a), v Counties-Manukau (h), v Hawkes Bay (a)
