Another week, another major shift in the College Football Playoff prediction.
The SEC is a mess. No one knows who's the best. No one knows who's the worst. All anyone knows is that no team is an easy win, and no team is safe. Georgia, Alabama, and Texas have all spent time at the top, but the only two teams in the league without a conference loss are LSU and Texas A&M, and both A&M and LSU have questions that need to be answered before they can move to the top.
2024 week eight 12-team CFP prediction
Rank | Team | Why are they there | Previous rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champion | 8 |
2 | Oregon | Big 10 Champion | 7 |
3 | Miami | ACC Champion | 3 |
4 | Iowa St | Big 12 Champion | 4 |
5 | Penn St | At-large | 5 |
6 | Ohio State | At-large | 2 |
7 | Texas | At-large | 1 |
8 | Clemson | At-large | 6 |
9 | Texas A&M | At-large | 9 |
10 | Boise St | MW Champion | 10 |
11 | BYU | At-large | 11 |
12 | Navy | At-large | 12 |
Regardless, we'll make judgments based on what we have, and that is Georgia is, again, the top dog in the SEC after its win over the Longhorns. Texas is still good, and it has the softest of soft schedules ahead of it. The Longhorns are very likely making the playoffs and at a decently high seed, too. That's why they're No. 7.
On the other hand, the Big 10 looks as powerful as ever. Oregon knocked off Ohio State a week ago and blanked a Purdue team that dropped 49 points on a stout Illinois defense. Ohio State isn't a slouch, either, but the Buckeyes should have moved from the Conference championship spot last week. I wanted to see how the Ducks performed after such a big win before I made that decision, and they didn't disappoint.
Penn State is also in the mix. They've been riding the No. 5 seed for weeks, but it has a chance to break that barrier with a win against Ohio State on November 2.