2024 Week Zero 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
The start of this college football season couldn’t have been any crazier.
There wasn’t much hype around the week zero games on Saturday, but boy, did fans get their money's worth. Florida State played Georgia Tech in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland. The Seminoles were the favorite to win the ACC, but after Saturday’s performance, that’s no longer the case. FSU lost in the final seconds with a Yellow Jackets’ walk-off field goal, completing the first top-10 upset of the season.
However, the unexpected game of the week was SMU at Nevada. The Wolf Pack had SMU against a wall for most of the game, leading the Mustangs by 11 points into the fourth quarter. However, SMU returned to life, scoring 16 points in the last eight minutes of regulation.
Here's what the CFP picture looks like after week zero:
2024 Week Zero 12-team CFP prediction
Rank | Team | Why are they here | Previous rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ohio State | Big 10 Champion | 1 |
2 | Georgia | SEC Champion | 2 |
3 | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 4 |
4 | Clemson | ACC Champion | 10 |
5 | Texas | At-large | 5 |
6 | Penn St | At-large | 6 |
7 | Oregon | At-large | 7 |
8 | Ole Miss | At-large | 8 |
9 | Notre Dame | At-large | 9 |
10 | Oklahoma State | At-large | 12 |
11 | UNLV | MW champion | 11 |
12 | Missouri | At-large | N/A |
When Florida State lost to Georgia Tech on Saturday, its playoff hopes took a serious nose dive. Not only does it put them a game behind in conference play, but the performance showed the nation that FSU isn't a top-10 team, at least at this point in the season.
Instead, Clemson takes the top spot in the ACC and earns a top-4 seed. FSU drops entirely out of the CFP conversation, making room for another team. Missouri makes its first appearance in the playoff projection as the 12th seed, mainly because of its relatively easy schedule. It also returns a dangerous offense. Oklahoma State moves from 12 to 10, filling in the open spot.
The best thing about college football is the unpredictability of it. There are a few matchups that could result in teams moving around after week one, like Georgia and Clemson or Notre Dame and Texas A&M. However, as fans learned on Saturday, you can't count out big-time upsets either.
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