Saturday got off to a rocky start in the game that has the biggest impact on this week’s College Football Playoff predictions. No. 2 Ohio State played for the Big Ten title and missed out on a chance to earn a bye in the CFP. Lost to Michigan 13-10.
Despite the fact that the Wolverines are only 7-5, I don’t expect the Buckeyes’ loss to cause a significant drop in the rankings. Ohio State’s blowout win over the Hoosiers just a week ago makes No. 10 Indiana the absolute floor for them. However, I expect them to be above No. 8 Tennessee due to the fact that the Buckeyes have two wins in the top 10, including one on the road.
In the SEC, No. 3 Texas beats No. 20 Texas A&M 17-The rivalry was rekindled for the first time in 13 years, and they finished in 7th place. The victory sends the Longhorns to the SEC Championship Game against No. 7 Georgia. The Bulldogs needed eight overtime games to beat Georgia Tech on Friday night, but had already clinched a spot in the SEC title game.
My CFP prediction assumes Georgia wins the SEC title with a win over Texas, giving the Bulldogs the No. 2 seed. If the game is competitive, the Longhorns shouldn’t be hurt too badly, but Georgia will definitely leapfrog them.
The No. 1 seed in the CFP is expected to be Big Ten regular season champion Oregon State. With Ohio State’s loss and the Nittany Lions’ win over Maryland, the top-ranked Ducks will face No. 4 Penn State for the Big Ten title. They won the tiebreaker against Indiana due to their league opponent’s conference record.
The Hoosiers are expected to be the last team to beat Purdue 66-0 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score suggests. Indiana needed a resounding win to defend its spot against teams facing better opponents.
quarterfinals
January 1st
rose bowl
Pasadena, California
(1) Oregon vs. (8/9) Winner
January 1st
sugar bowl
new orleans
(2) Georgia vs. (7/10) Winner
January 1st
fiesta bowl
Glendale, Arizona.
(4) Boise State University vs. (5/12) Winner
December 31st
peach bowl
atlanta
(3) SMU vs. (6/11) Winner
first round
December 20th or 21st
Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium
Austin, Texas
(5) Texas vs. (12) Miami
(4) Boise State
December 20th or 21st
ohio stadium
columbus ohio
(8) Ohio State vs. (9) Tennessee
(1) Oregon
December 20th or 21st
beaver stadium
Pennsylvania State University
(6) Penn State vs. (11) Indiana
(3) SMU
December 20th or 21st
notre dame stadium
South Bend, Indiana
(7) Notre Dame vs. (10) Arizona State University
(2) Georgia
The ACC also experienced turmoil with losses to No. 6 Miami and No. 12 Clemson. The difference is that the Hurricanes lost a conference game, which eliminated them from the ACC Championship Game. The Tigers will face No. 9 SMU, which finished its undefeated conference season with a 38-6 win over the University of California.
The Big 12 was unusually chalky on Saturday. In the conference title game, both teams won, with the team in control of its own destiny. No. 16 Arizona State defeated in-state rival Arizona State, 49-7, and No. 18 Iowa State defeated No. 24 Kansas State, 29-21. Note that this will be a one-bid league, but there is no champion projected as the last team in the field. That’s one change this week.
We may adjust these predictions when the CFP rankings are released on Tuesday night. Now that the regular season is over, teams that don’t play this week typically hold their relative standings, so my changes will reflect that. Of course, teams playing in the championship game can travel to some extent. For example, if Ohio State beats Tennessee this week, as I expect, there’s a good chance they’ll beat Tennessee next week too, but the other teams playing could come in between. There is a gender.
As the issues were resolved, they were eventually able to secure the exact number of bowl-eligible teams needed to play the game. No one will be left behind and no team will be below .500 in the postseason.
Most bowls don’t announce their brackets until after next week’s championship game, but the Bahamas Bowl could do so this week. This bowl is the only bowl not played in the United States, so more preparation time is needed to make sure everyone has the proper paperwork, etc. But the games are slower this season than in previous years, so that’s probably what will happen. You can also wait for the announcement.
Can’t find your team? Check out Jerry Palm’s complete bowl projection.
