Impressive Week 1 performances lead to changes in 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
College football is fully back. We've made it through an exciting Week 1, and after impressive showings from multiple teams, my preseason playoff predictions have some changes.
2024 College Football Playoff Predictions after Week 1
With Week 1 mostly in the books, here's my updated playoff predictions. Technically there's still one game to go, but nothing Florida State does against Boston College would impact these rankings.
What changed after Week 1?
Rank | Team | Why They Are Here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Georgia | SEC Champion | 1. |
2. | Ohio State | Big Ten Champion | 2. |
3. | Miami | ACC Champion | 3. |
4. | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 4. |
5. | Penn State | At-Large | 8. |
6. | Texas | At-Large | 5. |
7. | Alabama | At-Large | 7. |
8. | Ole Miss | At-Large | 10. |
9. | Oregon | At-Large | 6. |
10. | Notre Dame | At-Large | NR |
11. | Oklahoma State | At-Large | 11. |
12. | Boise State | Highest-Ranked G5 Champion | 12. |
Dropped Out - Clemson (previously 8th)
Georgia on a mission, Penn State makes statement, and Notre Dame vaults into Top-12.
The Top-4 stays the same after the opening weekend, as each of the four projected P4 champions rolled their competition to open the year. #1 Georgia put on the most impressive performance of the weekend, dominating a ranked Clemson team (who was previously apart of my playoff projections) 34-3 in Atlanta.
You could certainly justify moving Miami up to 2nd after routing Florida on the road, but I'll keep the Buckeyes there for now simply because I think they're still the better overall team. Plus Florida may be really bad.
Penn State makes the move from 8th to 5th after their impressive showing in Morgantown over pseudo-rival West Virginia. The Nittany Lions look like a far more complete team than they have in several years under James Franklin. Oregon drops to 9th following a somewhat baffling 24-14 win over Idaho.
It's probably unfair to drop Clemson completely out of the rankings considering how good Georgia likely is, but at this point, the little faith I had left in that program is gone. They'll still be one of the ACC's top teams, but I can't put them in the playoff.
Finally, Notre Dame moves into the Top-12, coming in at 10th. The Irish grinded out a win in College Station that I frankly didn't expect them to get. After beating the Aggies, few programs have a clearer path to the playoff.
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