College football barely has been back for a week, but the outlook for the College Football Playoff feels much different than it did during the preseason.
In just the first two weekends, college football fans witnessed 3 of the 4 favorites in the ACC look bad, National Championship media darling Oregon beat Idaho by just 10 points, and several fringe CFP contenders lose in ugly fashion.
No team has played more than two games, and most of them have played just once, so virtually every strong opinion offered by college football analysts is an overreaction at this point, but
For the first time, the 2024 college football season will see 12 teams make the College Football Playoff instead of the 4-team invitation that fans have seen in the last decade.
The new 12-team format will require the four conference champions ranked the highest to be the CFP's top-4 seeds (getting a 1st-round bye), a 5th conference champion to make the field (seeded wherever), and a Group of 5 representative to be included (likely the very same 5th conference champion). The rest of the College Football Playoff field will be comprised of at-large invitees.
Here is the updated College Football Playoff prediction from Garnet and Cocky, Week 1 edition:
Rank | Team | Why they are here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia Bulldogs | SEC Champions | 1 |
2 | Ohio State Buckeyes | BIG Ten Champions | 2 |
3 | Utah Utes | Big 12 Champions | 3 |
4 | Miami Hurricanes | ACC Champions | 4 |
5 | Texas Longhorns | At-Large | 6 |
6 | Oregon Ducks | At-Large | 5 |
7 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | At-Large | 7 |
8 | Alabama Crimson Tide | At-Large | 9 |
9 | Kansas State Wildcats | At-Large | 8 |
10 | Ole Miss Rebels | At-Large | 10 |
11 | Missouri Tigers | At-Large | 11 |
12 | Liberty Flames | Conference USA Champions | 12 |
Teams Falling Out of Rankings: Clemson Tigers (Previously 4th)
Teams New to Rankings: Miami Hurricanes (Previously Unranked)
Biggest Movers in Rankings: Clemson Tigers (from 4th to unranked), Miami Hurricanes (from unranked to 4th)
Other than the musical chairs being played by the ACC, there wasn't much movement between the week 0 prediction and this one for week 1.
The back-to-back ugly losses from Florida State and Clemson, coupled with a Miami Hurricanes beatdown of the rival Florida Gators, resulted in the third ACC Championship prediction of the young season. And NC State's poor showing against Western Carolina kept them from being able to sneak into the conversation...for now.
Georgia looked mighty impressive as they had Clemson coach Dabo Swinney arguing pregame that "It's not about the scoreboard today. It's about how you play." as if he knew what was coming for his team in Atlanta. Fellow SEC playoff hopefuls Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Tennessee looked really strong against outmatched opponents, too.
The BIG Ten still has Ohio State and Oregon at the top (even though the Ducks did NOT look very good this weekend), but the Iowa Hawkeyes scored some points this weekend, causing some to think they could spoil the CFP party. (And did Southern Cal learn to play defense?!) The Big 12 is still wide open, but Utah looked really good on Thursday. The Liberty Flames beat FCS Campbell and appear poised for an undefeated record (with a horrible schedule), but unless they lose, it is hard to move them out of the picture for now because of their clear path to 13-0.
With multiple games between College Football Playoff hopeful squads coming in week 2, this prediction could look much different a week from now.