2024 Week 1 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
Though this past weekend's slate of "Week 0" games gave us an appetizer, college football is back in earnest for the entire country this week. Of course, that means that the countdown to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff is set to begin.
This year, there will be more competition than ever for playoff spots with the expansion of the field. No longer is the opportunity to play for the National Championship a right reserved for an exclusive club of blue-blood programs.
Instead, at least one Group of 5 program will get a shot to be in the tournament as will teams from each of the Power 4 conferences. This unprecedented opportunity has given hope to fanbases across the nation that had previously entered each season knowing that their team had little to no hope of playing for it all.
Still, this is going to be a tough field to make. With the SEC and Big Ten expected to gobble up the lion's share of the spots in the playoff, it will be a challenge for programs from other conferences to get into the field if they don't win their league's title.
With that said, let's take a look at how the 12-team field might look were the playoff to begin this week. Of course, this projection is sure to change as the season unfolds, which will make each week so fascinating.
Rank | Team | Why they are here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champion | N/A |
2 | Oregon | Big Ten Champion | N/A |
3 | Clemason | ACC Champion | N/A |
4 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 Champion | N/A |
5 | Alabama | At-Large Birth | N/A |
6 | Ohio State | At-Large Birth | N/A |
7 | Texas | At-Large Birth | N/A |
8 | Notre Dame | At-Large Birth | N/A |
9 | Ole Miss | At-Large Birth | N/A |
10 | Penn State | At-Large Birth | N/A |
11 | Michigan | At-Large Birth | N/A |
12 | Memphis | AAC Champion | N/A |
This past weekend saw some projections shaken up with the Florida State Seminoles losing to Georgia Tech 24-21. That surprising result will have many people reconsidering who they have coming out of the ACC as champion.
What's interesting is that in this projection, eight of the spots go to the SEC or the Big Ten. That's going to continue to be the case until the Big 12 and the ACC prove they are worthy of earning more than just one bid.
That is possible, though. Keep an eye on Utah and Kansas State in the Big 12 as well as Miami and, yes, Florida State in the ACC as those four teams are dark-horse contenders in their league.
Each week, we will update our projections as teams rise and fall. It should be an exciting season and monitoring the potential playoff matchups will be a fun experience for fans as this year unfolds.
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