There are only two weeks left until the first College Football Playoff rankings.
This season’s playoffs have expanded to 12 teams, and we’re laying out the projected playoff field each week ahead of the first 2024 rankings announcement on November 5th.
Without using the CFP rankings as a guide, we primarily rely on the AP Top 25 as a barometer for predicting this field. The CFP rankings and AP polls typically have more similarities than differences at season’s end. Here’s what the provisional playoff field looks like after the third Saturday in October.
1st round bye
1. Oregon State (7-0, projected Big Ten champion)
The Ducks’ loss to Texas and their Week 8 win over Purdue put them atop the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2012. The road to an undefeated regular season also looks very achievable. Illinois is now the only ranked team remaining on Oregon’s schedule as No. 20 Illinois visits Eugene on Saturday and Michigan falls to 4-3. Now that it’s clear that Michigan State can’t figure out their temporary predicament, it doesn’t seem too difficult for the Ducks to visit Ann Arbor on Nov. 2.
2. Georgia (6-1, expected SEC championship)
Were you one of the doubters Kirby Smart told his team in the days leading up to the Bulldogs’ blowout win over Texas? Doubting Georgia under Smart is always a bad choice, but the Bulldogs… There’s a big difference between doubting it and thinking Texas can win at home as a 3.5-point favorite. Georgia’s defense was scary against the Longhorns, but their offense needs to improve. Carson Beck has eight interceptions in four SEC games.
3. Miami (7-0, projected ACC champion)
The bullish Hurricanes did it again against Louisville. Miami took a crucial two-point lead in the fourth quarter and benefited from Cam Ward’s arm barely advancing on what could have been a key fumble in a 52-45 victory. The good news is that Ward is the top Heisman candidate among quarterbacks and is clearly the best QB in college football right now. The bad news is that Miami has won all three ACC games by one point and has given up 129 points in those games.
4. Iowa State (7-0, projected Big 12 champion)
If you’re pointing out Miami’s penchant for close games, it’s also worth noting that Iowa State was forced into a tough 38-35 home win over UCF. For the Knights, RJ Harvey had an 80-yard TD run en route to his own 196-yard run, giving him 354 yards rushing, and QB Jakri Brown ran 13 times for 154 yards and had 67 yards rushing. did. Rocco Becht scored the game-winning goal with 30 seconds left, and Iowa State needed 11 points to win.
This is what the College Football Playoff looks like after Week 8. (Taylar Seivert/Yahoo Sports)
1st round match
No. 12 Boise State (MWC Champion Contender) vs. No. 5 Penn State (At-Large)
It’s a shame that the biggest non-power conference game of the week will be played Friday night at 10:30pm ET. The Broncos will visit UNLV in a matchup that could be a preview of the Mountain West title game. Will the Rebels be the first team to slow down running back Ashton Giunty? The Nittany Lions visit Wisconsin on Saturday for a game that looks tougher than it looked just a few weeks ago. Granted, their opponents are Purdue, Rutgers, and Northwestern, but Wisconsin is on a three-game winning streak, winning those games by a combined score of 117-16.
No. 11 BYU (General), No. 6 Ohio State University (General)
The Cougars had a strong showing in Week 8, with Jake Retzlaff’s 35-yard TD pass to Darius Lassiter with 10 seconds remaining, leading BYU to a 38-35 victory over Oklahoma State. Now, BYU is visiting the same UCF team that had a seizure at Iowa State. Ohio State hosts Nebraska on Saturday before the biggest game in Week 10 when the Buckeyes visit Penn State. If Ohio State can do what Indiana did in Week 8 against the Cornhuskers, it would go a long way in building confidence in the fan base ahead of a trip to State College.
No. 7 Texas (at-large) at No. 10 Clemson (at-large)
Yes, Quinn Ewers is still the starting quarterback for Texas. Steve Sarkisian stated that fact after the Longhorns’ loss to Georgia, but if it wasn’t clear enough, the fact that Ewers played the entire second half meant his job was in jeopardy. It should tell you that it is not. Sarkisian’s decision to go to Arch Manning in the first half raised some eyebrows, but with Manning helpless against Georgia’s ferocious intensity, it was easy to go back to Ewers. Meanwhile, Clemson continues to rack up points. The Tigers defeated Virginia 48-31 in Week 8 prior to Saturday’s bye. Despite scoring just three points against Georgia in Week 1, the Tigers are the seventh-highest scoring team in the nation with 42 points per game.
8th place Tennessee (at large), 9th place LSU (at large)
If this happens, it will be a very entertaining interconference matchup. Tennessee’s offense started to take off in the second half of the win over Alabama, but LSU didn’t have the same problems the Vols had against Fayetteville. Tennessee has Saturday off and can enjoy another week of wins over the Crimson Tide, while LSU visits Texas A&M in the weekend’s biggest game. The Tigers and Aggies are the only undefeated SEC teams in the conference.
