Predicting the College Football Playoff after Alabama wins and Ole Miss gets stunned
This weekend was arguably the best weekend of College Football that we've had early on in this season. We had the marquee matchup as Alabama hosted and beat Georgia, a massive upset as Ole Miss fell to Kentucky, and we saw a ton of teams face their first true opponent after taking the first few weeks off.
We're still over a month from the College Football Playoff committee releasing its first Playoff Rankings but, this weekend gave us the best look we've had yet at who the best 12 teams are. We still need to see some of these teams tested but, here is who we project landing in the College Football Playoff after Week 5.
Seed | Team | Why they're here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Ohio State Buckeyes | Big Ten Champions | 2nd |
2. | Alabama Crimson Tide | SEC Champions | 7th |
3. | Miami Hurricanes | ACC Champions | 3rd |
4. | BYU Cougars | Big 12 Champions | Unranked |
5. | Texas Longhorns | At Large | 1st |
6. | Tennessee Vols | At Large | 6th |
7. | Georgia Bulldogs | At Large | 5th |
8. | Oregon Ducks | At Large | 9th |
9. | Penn State Nittany Lions | At Large | 10th |
10. | Clemson Tigers | At Large | 11th |
11. | Missouri Tigers | At Large | Unranked |
12. | UNLV Rebels | Mountain West Champions | 12th |
The Ohio State Buckeyes faced their first true opponent and won this game with ease and slide into our top spot as simply they're the best team on paper. It's the most likely that Ohio State will finish the season undefeated while the SEC is looking like it'll be a league that beats up on each other.
Coming into the second seed is the Alabama Crimson Tide fresh off of a massive win over Georgia. The Tide were dominant in the first half and Georgia dominated the first half and you can make the case that they're still two of the top four teams in college football.
On Friday Night, Miami nearly suffered a shocking loss but, were the benefactor of a controversial call that saw Virginia Tech's game-winning Hail Mary overturned. The only ranked team left on the schedule for Miami is Louisville but, the Hurricanes should head to the ACC Championship game unbeaten.
Our final conference champion is the BYU Cougars who continue to get doubted week after week and leave with victories. The past two weeks have seen Kansas State, Utah, and Oklahoma State fall and while BYU still plays 2 of those 3, but, they're the better team right now.
The other team joining the playoff race after being left out of our rankings last weekend is Missouri after they were on a bye this weekend. The Tigers are the benefactor of Ole Miss' disaster against Kentucky and when you look at their schedule, this team should have no issue making its way to the Playoff.
The Longhorns fall from the SEC Champions seed to an at large team as Alabama got the win it needed and is now in better shape to make the SEC Title game. The Longhorns didn't exactly handle Mississippi State Bulldogs and they still have Oklahoma and Georgia looming.
Holding down our seed for a Group of Five bid right now is UNLV winning the Mountain West. This week, UNLV lost its starting quarterback and a key running back and their offense looked even more explosive with Hajj Malik-Williams at Quarterback. This ultimately may come down to who wins when UNLV and Boise State face off late in October.
Right on the outside looking in for us are Ole Miss, USC, LSU, Indiana, and Notre Dame. Given that LSU and Ole Miss will face off in two weeks we'll learn a ton about both teams in that game.
More LSU News:
feed