College Football Playoff Picture: Here’s what the 12-team bracket looks like after Week 9

The first set of College Football Playoff rankings are just a week away.

With this season’s playoff expanding to 12 teams, we are laying out the projected playoff field each week ahead of the inaugural 2024 rankings release on Nov. 5.

Without CFP rankings as our guide, we mostly rely on the AP Top 25 as our barometer to project the field. The CFP rankings and AP poll typically have many more similarities than differences at the end of the season. Here’s what the provisional playoff field looks like as the calendar gets ready to turn to November.

1. Oregon (8-0, projected Big Ten champion)

The Ducks are rolling. Oregon thrashed Illinois 38-9 in Week 9 to remain undefeated and no longer has any ranked opponents on its schedule. A visit to Michigan on Saturday is probably the toughest game remaining, but don’t sleep on a trip to Wisconsin on Nov. 16. Oregon should be favored in that contest and has one of the easiest paths to 12-0 of all the remaining unbeaten teams.

2. Georgia (6-1, projected SEC champion)

The Bulldogs aren’t in first place in the SEC but we’re confident in them at the moment. There’s a pathway for Georgia to get to the SEC title game at 6-2 in the conference — the SEC’s tiebreakers could get really, really complicated — and the Bulldogs shouldn’t have much of an issue with Florida in the teams’ annual rivalry game on Saturday.

3. Miami (8-0, projected ACC champion)

Could Miami sneak up to a top-two seed? It’s possible. The Hurricanes’ schedule is easier than Oregon’s. Miami has Duke on Saturday along with Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Syracuse the rest of the way. That trip to the Orange could be tricky, but if Miami goes 12-0 or even 11-1 and beats Clemson in the ACC title game, the Hurricanes could be higher than No. 3.

4. BYU (8-0, projected Big 12 champion)

The Cougars were…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-29 13:14:16

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