Hopefully, all you college football fans had a great Week 2 out there.
With a second consecutive week of FBS action in the books, it’s really starting to feel like college football season. We’re seen dramatic comebacks, nail-biter games decided in the final seconds, and crazy upsets -- I’m looking at you, Northern Illinois.
The fact remains however, that there is still a lot of football left to be played. But that won’t stop us from taking a look at how we expect the College Football Playoff bracket to shake out this fall based on what we have seen so far. Before you read on, you can check out what our projections last week look like.
How are these rankings determined?
Each week this season, HailWV will be releasing a prediction for what we expect the CFP field to look like -- it will not necessarily reflect what we expect the rankings themselves to look like each week, but how the field would be seeded. As a reminder, the official process for selecting the College Football Playoff (CFP) field is as follows:
"The CFP Selection Committee ranks the top 25 teams at the end of the season, and the 12 playoff participants consist of the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host those seeded nine through 12 in first-round games. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl."From the CFP Website
PROJECTED 12-TEAM CFP FIELD ENTERING WEEK 2
Ranking | Team | Bid Type | Previous Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ohio State | Big 10 Champion | 2 |
2 | Texas | SEC Champion | 5 |
3 | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 3 |
4 | Miami | ACC Champion | 4 |
5 | Georgia | At-Large | 1 |
6 | Tennessee | At-Large | 11 |
7 | Ole Miss | At-Large | 9 |
8 | Alabama | At-Large | 7 |
9 | Oregon | At-Large | 8 |
10 | Penn State | At-Large | 10 |
11 | Oklahoma State | At-Large | NR |
12 | Boise State | Mountain West Champion (G5 Representative) | NR |
DROPPED OUT: Notre Dame, Appalachian State
As you'll notice, we have a new top-seed predicted, with Ohio State replacing Georgia. The Bulldogs drop out of the top five as we are now giving the SEC Championship nod to Texas in their first year in the league, as their impressive performance against Michigan should secure them wins up-and-down their SEC schedule if they can maintain that play. Of course, Georgia travels to Texas on October 19th, which should settle that debate. Utah and Miami remain as projected conference champions to round out the top four.
Notre Dame has dropped out of our projection following an upset loss at the hands of MAC program Northern Illinois, which could make rebounding back into the field tough unless they win out -- a possibility in doubt after only managing 14 points against the Huskies.
Appalachian State also falls out as the Group of Five representative after being pummeled at the hands of Clemson, with Boise State playing their way in with a competitive three-point loss to a Top 10 Oregon team. With Washington State and Oregon State left beefing up the schedule compared to a normal Mountain West slate, Boise could clinch the spot by winning out. Especially if Oregon closes their season strong.
In this latest projection the SEC still maintains 5-of-12 slots, and their dominance has earned the four not projected to be league champion a home playoff matchup. The Big 10 maintains 3 slots, and the Big 12 gains an additional spot at the expense of Notre Dame -- that one is occupied by Oklahoma State following an overtime win against SEC opponent Arkansas.
Meanwhile, the ACC and the Group of Five stay steady at one projected team each headed into Week 3.