2024 Week 3 12-team College Football Playoff Prediction
Another week of college football is in the books. It is hard to believe but we are already a quarter of the way through the regular season and now, some contenders are starting to establish themselves as College Football Playoff favorites.
On Friday night, Kansas State made one of the biggest statements of the weekend. In a 31-7 home win over No. 20 Arizona, the purple Wildcats let the rest of the Big 12 know that they are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Now sitting at No. 13 in the Associated Press poll, KSU is just one spot behind preseason conference favorite Utah. What's more, Kansas State should get the benefit of the doubt as the new Big 12 favorite given that their victory over Arizona far exceeds any victory Utah has secured this season.
Other than that game, week three lacked a ton of eye-opening results. Top 25 teams such as LSU, Missouri, and No.1 Georgia all survived tough tests after being pushed to the limit.
Meanwhile, playoff contenders such as Texas, Notre Dame, Alabama, Ole Miss, Oregon, and Tennessee all won big. So let's take a look at our latest College Football Playoff projections.
Rank | Team | Bid | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champ | 1 |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten Champ | 2 |
3 | Miami | ACC Champ | 3 |
4 | Kansas State | Big 12 Champ | N/A |
5 | Texas | At-large | 5 |
6 | Alabama | At-large | 6 |
7 | Ole Miss | At-large | 7 |
8 | USC | At-large | 8 |
9 | Penn State | At-large | 9 |
10 | Tennessee | At-large | 10 |
11 | Oregon | At-large | 11 |
12 | Boise State | MWC Champ | 12 |
Outside of Kansas State replacing Utah as the Big 12 champion, there isn't any change in our weekly playoff projection. However, some may argue that Texas should be No. 1 in this projection as they are the top team in the A.P. poll this week.
We keep Georgia atop our playoff ranking though because the Bulldogs' wins over Clemson and Kentucky (on the road) are far and away better than anything Texas has done thus far considering how poor Michigan has looked this year. In fact, we won't know much more about Texas until October 12 when they play No. 15 Oklahoma in Dallas.
Week four gives us only a pair of top-25 matchups but both could shake up the playoff picture. No. 11 USC heads to No. 18 Michigan while No. 5 Tennessee plays at No. 15 Oklahoma. Each of those games will have a bearing on the playoff picture and there is always the chance for an upset along the way. So keep checking in each week to see how the playoff picture unfolds.
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