There's a new number one team in the country, but how does that affect our playoff rankings? There were a few upsets among top 25 teams, as well as one of the weirdest situations in college football involving an NIL dispute. It was a weird week overall, so let's get into the predictions.
Rank | Team | How They Made It | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Ohio State | Big Ten Champion | 1 |
2. | Texas | SEC Champion | 2 |
3. | Miami (FL) | ACC Champion | 3 |
4. | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 4 |
5. | Alabama | At-Large | 7 |
6. | Tennessee | At-Large | 8 |
7. | Georgia | At-Large | 5 |
8. | Oregon | At-Large | 9 |
9. | Missouri | At-Large | 11 |
10. | Penn State | At-Large | 10 |
11. | Ole Miss | At-Large | 6 |
12. | UNLV | MW Champion | Unranked |
Dropped from rankings: Liberty
The top four remain unchanged for automatic bids. Yes, Utah lost, but they were without quarterback Cam Rising, and Iowa State still needs to show me a quality win against a top team (sorry, Iowa fans). Alabama is the new number one team in the country, but Texas is winning with a backup quarterback, albeit a good one, so they still maintain the bid from the SEC. Miami barely snuck by Virginia Tech, but Clemson is still the only real threat to the Hurricanes and have yet to get a quality win.
Georgia and Ole Miss both slip down the list after suffering losses. Kentucky's upset over the Rebels was totally unexpected and, with a stacked SEC, Ole Miss is in danger of falling out of the playoffs completely with another bad loss.
Missouri and Tennessee enjoyed a nice bump up the rankings as the SEC maintains a hold on 50% of the playoff spots.
UNLV joins the conversation after a strange and tumultuous week. After losing their starting quarterback in a bizarre NIL dispute, the Rebels didn't lose a step and won convincingly, beating Fresno State 59-14. They'll take the Group Five slot as well as the number 25 ranking in the country in a great weekend for UNLV.