They have a couple of games left and there is still a maximum of 10 points on offer for them.
That is a tiny slither of hope.
But Saturday night's defeat at Forsyth Barr Stadium was a reminder of how far Otago is off the pace.
They scrambled well initially, but faded in the second half.
A yellow card to loose forward Tom Sanders 10 minutes into the second stanza did not help.
That was a turning point.
But Taranaki also just played the game with too much pace and width for Otago.
Otago co-captain Sean Withy summed it up nicely.
''It was just a domino effect of penalties, discipline, yellow cards and errors at the start of the second half,'' he said.
''We just couldn't get it back.''
Taranaki started the game as well as a rugby team could hope to begin. They strung 13 phases together and made several breaks before Logan Crowley skipped through a tackle and scored under the posts.
Ouch. 7-0.
No-one really wanted to tackle Vereniki Tikoisolomone. He is hard man to collar, though.
So is Jona Nareki - and he responded with a try in the corner. Taranaki had been caught playing too much rugby in their own 22.
They fumbled the ball and Otago swooped. Jack Leslie made a strong carry.
But Ajay Faleafaga made a nice skip pass to Nareki which created the extra space and time the winger needed to reach the corner.
Kini Naholo got so close to scoring Taranaki's second.
Stephen Perofeta had made a break and Naholo put in a chip ahead.
Crowley gathered but got dropped half a metre from the line and Naholo could not handle his pass.
It had been a frantic opening 25 minutes. But Otago took the lead with a trio of penalties to Sam Gilbert to close out the half.
Taranaki's back three had looked dangerous and Otago's defence around the ruck had been dodgy.
But the visitor's discipline had let them down.
Otago, though, took a turn in the naughty seat, giving up a series of penalties.
Tom Sanders got himself sent to the bin for a tip tackle and Taranaki struck immediately. Hooker Bradley Slater flopped over from a lineout drive.
Gilbert took some sting out of the numerical disadvantage with a penalty.
But the home side lost powerhouse No 8 Christian Lio-Willie to an injury and that robbed the team of a strong ball carrier going into the final quarter of the match.
Shortly after, Otago got pushed off its ruck ball and Kaylum Boshier put in a cheeky left foot grubber which bounced up nicely for replacement halfback Adam Lennox who went over in the corner.
And the player Highlander fans cannot wait to see in action next year provided the coup de grace. Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens got on the outside of Meihana Grindlay and sprinted to the corner where the outside back hopefully scores many, many more.
The scores
Taranaki 36
Logan Crowley, Bradley Slater, Adam Lennox, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Josh Jacomb tries; Stephen Perofeta 4 con, pen
Otago 17
Jona Nareki try; Sam Gilbert 4 pen
Halftime: 14-7 Otago
