Two premier SEC matchups headlined the week 8 college football slate as Big Ten powers Ohio State and Penn State rested.
With Alabama falling at Tennessee and Georgia handling top-ranked Texas on the road, the SEC hierarchy and the playoff picture as a whole came into focus a little more this weekend.
Alabama has been a disappointment since defeating Georgia in late September, and it remains to be seen if the Crimson Tide has hit rock bottom. As of now, Alabama’s playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread, and the Tide comes nowhere near passing the eye test as a title contender.
Georgia bounced back strong with its most impressive performance of the season and notched its second top-10 win. Along with Oregon, who handled business in a prime letdown spot on the road at Purdue on Friday night, the Bulldogs appear to be back at the top of the sport.
Here is my week 8 College Football Playoff prediction:
Seed | Team | Bid Status | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champ | 7 |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten Champ | 2 |
3 | Miami | ACC Champ | 3 |
4 | BYU | Big 12 Champ | 4 |
5 | Oregon | At-large | 5 |
6 | Texas | At-large | 1 |
7 | Penn State | At-large | 6 |
8 | Tennessee | At-large | 10 |
9 | Clemson | At-large | 8 |
10 | Indiana | At-large | Not ranked |
11 | Notre Dame | At-large | 11 |
12 | Boise State | Mountain West Champ | 12 |
SEC not looking great
Georgia takes over as the top seed as my projected SEC champion. Texas falls to the 6-seed, while Tennessee occupies the 8-seed after a big win at home. The Vols control their own destiny and will have a massive opportunity against Georgia in mid-November.
This is the bleakest outlook yet for the SEC, as I only have three teams making the field. LSU and Texas A&M are lurking just outside the top-12 and will each have opportunities to rise, including a head-to-head in College Station this weekend.
Missouri has not looked the part at all, but the Tigers continue to skate by. Eli Drinkwitz’ team still sits at 6-1 and has a fairly manageable back-end schedule if it can get by Alabama this weekend.
Conversely, Alabama can begin to right the ship with a win over Mizzou. Though the Playoff feels light years away for a struggling Bama squad, the Tide is still very much in the hunt until it loses another game.
Calm before the storm in the Big Ten
On paper, the Big Ten looks like the best league so far this season. However, its top teams have largely ridden soft schedules to impressive records to this point.
Ohio State (2) , Oregon (5), Penn State (7), and Indiana (10) are all in my projected playoff field with only one loss between them, which obviously means none of them have played each other outside of Ohio State and Oregon.
That will change in November, and the contenders should begin to separate themselves from the pretenders.
ACC, Big 12, and the rest
Miami is still my projected ACC champ, though I have considered flipping them and Clemson for weeks now. Clemson remains in the field as my 9-seed.
BYU scored a game-winning touchdown to remain undefeated, and the Cougars are my projected Big 12 champ. I currently have the Big 12 as a one-bid league, but 7-0 Iowa State and 6-1 Kansas State are very much in the hunt.
Notre Dame and Boise State continue to occupy my final two playoff spots.