As the sport’s calendar begins to hit the grind of mid-October, the College Football Playoff picture has begun to take shape.
Primary contenders like Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M have emerged at the top of the SEC. Meanwhile, Indiana joined Ohio State in the Big Ten’s upper tier with a 30-20 statement win over Oregon in Eugene.
In the Big 12, Texas Tech, BYU, Utah and perhaps Cincinnati appear to be on a collision course to determine who emerges from that league. And the ACC still appears to be Miami’s league to lose, although Georgia Tech, Duke, SMU and a resurgent Pitt squad may emerge as contenders.
Not to be forgotten, the Group of Five auto-bid appears to be revolving around the American title race, as South Florida sent a message with a 63-36 win over previously unbeaten North Texas with undefeated Memphis and Navy squads lurking.
With the dust having settled from Week 7, here are the latest playoff projections from ESPN’s cast of college football experts:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Indiana 4. Texas A&M 5. Texas Tech 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Georgia Tech 9. Georgia 10. USC 11. Oregon 12. Memphis
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Miami 4. Texas A&M 5. Texas Tech 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. Georgia Tech 10. Georgia 11. LSU 12. Memphis
Bill Connelly: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Miami 4. Texas Tech 5. Texas A&M 6. Ole Miss 7. Georgia Tech 8. Alabama 9. Memphis 10. Georgia 11. USC 12. LSU
David Hale: 1. Miami 2. Indiana 3. Ohio State 4. Texas A&M 5. Alabama 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Georgia 9. Georgia Tech 10. Tennessee 11. Oregon 12. South Florida
Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Indiana 4. Texas A&M 5. Ole Miss 6. Oregon 7. Alabama 8. Texas Tech 9. Tennessee 10. Georgia Tech 11. Missouri 12. Memphis
Max Olson: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Indiana 4. Texas Tech 5. Texas A&M 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. Georgia 10. Georgia Tech 11. USC 12. South Florida
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Indiana 4. Texas A&M 5. Texas Tech 6. Alabama 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Georgia Tech 10. Georgia 11. Notre Dame 12. South Florida
Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Indiana 4. Texas A&M 5. Ole Miss 6. Texas Tech 7. Alabama 8. Georgia 9. Oregon 10. Georgia Tech 11. LSU 12. South Florida
Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Miami 4. Alabama 5. Texas A&M 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Georgia 9. Georgia Tech 10. Oregon 11. LSU 12. South Florida
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Miami 4. Texas A&M 5. Texas Tech 6. Alabama 7. Ole Miss 8. Georgia Tech 9. Oregon 10. Georgia 11. USC 12. Memphis
Dave Wilson: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Miami 4. Texas A&M 5. Texas Tech 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. Georgia Tech 10. Georgia 11. LSU 12. Memphis
Parker is currently the sports editor with the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
