This weekend, the big time games on the schedule delivered the massive results everyone was looking for while we got some help from upsets making the day more interesting. Miami, Georgia, and LSU all lost this weekend drastically hurting their playoff chances including fully killing LSU's hopes.
We head into the back stretch of the season and we have more moving pieces than we've had thus far in the College Football Season. After Week 11, here is how we see the College Football Playoff picture playing out.
Rank | Team | Why They're Here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Oregon Ducks | Big Ten Champions | 1st |
2. | Tennessee Volunteers | SEC Champions | 8th |
3. | BYU Cougars | Big 12 Champions | 4th |
4. | SMU Mustangs | ACC Champions | Unranked |
5. | Ohio State Buckeyes | At Large | 5th |
6. | Alabama Crimson Tide | At Large | Unranked |
7. | Texas Longhorns | At Large | 6th |
8. | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | At Large | 7th |
9. | Ole Miss Rebels | At Large | Unranked |
10. | Penn State Nittany Lions | At Large | 9th |
11. | Indiana Hoosiers | At Large | 10th |
12. | Boise State Broncos | At Large | 12th |
The Oregon Ducks remain the best pick to end up as the top overall seed in the College Football Playoff. The latest victim was Maryland as the Ducks defense shut the Terps down allowing Oregon's offense to win this game easily.
Our biggest shakeup comes as we now predict that Tennessee will win the SEC Championship earning the second seed. The Vols lost Nico Iamaleava and still beat Mississippi State easily and now have a chance to end Georgia's Playoff Hopes. The Vols defense can stifle any offense and if Tennessee's offense can find its rhythm they'll be National Title front runners.
Late on Saturday Night as many were asleep, the BYU Cougars were fighting to keep their undefeated season alive. The Cougars were the beneficiary of a controversial call but, a win is a win, and the Cougars have the inside track to the Big 12 Title game.
The Miami Hurricanes have been playing with fire all season and they finally got burnt losing to Georgia Tech. We were close to pulling the trigger last weekend but, we now project that SMU will win the ACC Championship in their first year in the Conference. The Mustangs offense can put up points in a hurry and if they run into Miami in the ACC Championship game the Hurricanes defense is in trouble.
The Ohio State Buckeyes remain the team with the best chance of landing the 5th seed which may be the best possible seed. This weekend, the Buckeyes didn't prove much dismantling Purdue but, they'll have an interesting game coming up against Indiana.
Flying all the way up to sixth is the Alabama Crimson Tide after they dominated LSU in Death Valley. The rest of the way the Crimson Tide get to face Mercer, Oklahoma, and Auburn and it would be shocking if any of those games are even close.
The Texas Longhorns will most likely make the College Football Playoff but, they'll likely be the victim of losing in the SEC Championship Game.
All Notre Dame has done since losing to Northern Illinois is dominate whoever they line up against. The latest to get demolished by Notre Dame was Florida State who lost 52-3 and it felt like it should've been much worse.
This offseason, Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss made it their mission to bulk up in the trenches in order to compete with Georgia and on Saturday it panned out. The Rebels dominated Georgia in the trenches and tore Georgia's secondary apart. The Rebels most likely punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff which is a massive step for Lane Kiffin.
Penn State dominated Washington this weekend as expected, the best thing for Penn State would be missing the Big Ten Championship because they'd most likely find their way into the Playoff.
Indiana gets our final at large bid, if the Hoosiers can avoid getting blown out by Ohio State its going to be tough for the Committee to keep them out of the College Football Playoff.
Boise State grabs the final College Football Playoff bid because they are the best Non-Power Four school. The Broncos have a Heisman Winner in the backfield but, their defense deserves a ton of credit for how well they've played this season.
Falling out of the Playoff Picture is Georgia who now has two losses to Playoff contending teams and given the way their offense is playing, they'll most likely get eliminated this weekend by Tennessee. Miami also slides out of our projection, the Hurricanes still have a tough game against Syracuse lurking but, SMU has the team capable of knocking Miami out in the ACC Title Game.
On the outside looking in are Colorado, Miami, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Army depending on how each team finishes their season.