Alabama will crash the party

The 2024 college football regular season is over. After the madness of the previous week, we entered the final week of the regular season with a pretty clear playoff picture. But we also knew that with the madness of rivalry week, any clarity gained could easily be lost.

I won’t say this rivalry week brought us any real madness, but there were certainly some significant results that will lead to notable changes in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

As always, these rankings reflect the projected seeding for the playoffs, 1-12. One important change is that the Previous Ranking section now reflects the selection committee’s actual playoff rankings, rather than my own previous predictions.

Dropped out – Miami (previously 3rd)

I immediately made some adjustments to reflect how the selection committee rated these teams, such as: B. Boise at No. 4 and Arizona State at No. 12. After all, this is a prediction. and there is a literal ranking that I can base them on (don’t ask me why I haven’t already).

10 of the teams in the scheduled field took care of their business over the weekend, albeit to varying degrees (looking at you, Georgia…). This was not the case with two. Ohio State, I don’t even know what to say right now. As three-touchdown favorites at home against a 6-5 Michigan team without its two best players, the Buckeyes lost. That’s now four straight losses for Ryan Day’s program in the one game they desperately need to win. They see that winged helmet and turn to mush. It’s truly remarkable.

But the Buckeyes are still headed to the playoffs, even though I have no idea how much money they’re really investing (or if Day is still the coach). They suffer a significant fall to 8th place. As for the other team that failed to get the deal done, Miami… uh oh.

The U has been playing with fire all year long. It finally caught up with them against Georgia Tech. It hit them again against Syracuse, and this time it might have ended their playoff hopes. The Canes currently don’t have a single ranked win, and their two losses have come to unranked teams (though ‘Cuse may move up). That’s a bad resume, and since they have no shot at an ACC title, they’re probably finished.

And thus opens the door for a 3-loss SEC team to take the field. Believe me, I don’t like it. I prefer to watch Miami purely from an entertainment perspective. But I have little doubt that we will see a three-loss SEC team on the field in the next rankings.

I expect that team to be Alabama. The Tide were the second team to leave the field in the final rankings, just behind Clemson, which lost like Miami. There will be much debate as to whether previously No. 15 South Carolina will overtake Alabama and Ole Miss after its win over Clemson, both of which defeated the Gamecocks. You have convincing arguments, but I think that the committee will value a direct duel. And between Bama and the Rebels, the Tide have the better record. Alabama is inevitable.