Week 9 features at least four games guaranteed to impact the Playoff race.

No. 2 Penn State travels to No. 6 Ohio State. No. 4 TCU travles to No. 25 Iowa State. No. 9 Notre Dame hosts No. 14 N.C. State, and No. 11 Oklahoma State visits Will Grier and No. 22 West Virginia.

We’ll know more late Saturday night than we do this morning, but that holds true every week.

We are officially one week from the release of the first College Football Playoff poll in the 2017 season.

A few things to remember: The final poll has never mirrored the first poll. In the first three years, no more than two Playoff teams appeared in the top four of the first poll. Two Playoff teams started at No. 15 and No. 16 in their respective years.

[table “” not found /]

[table “” not found /]

[table “” not found /]

Now that we know the history, let’s project what we’ll see on Halloween night.

Who’s going to make the Playoff? That’s something we’ve been discussing, well, all season, actually.

Connor O’Gara, senior national columnist: 1. Alabama, 2. Georgia, 3. Penn State, 4. TCU.

As boring as it sounds, I don’t see a whole lot of top-4 shakeup if we’re picking Playoff teams today. The only switch I’d make is I’d have Georgia at No. 2 instead of Penn State, but that’s really not important in the grand scheme of things.

Alabama is still deserving of being No. 1, which is based mostly on dominance. It’ll be really interesting to see how the Tide’s strength of schedule will be evaluated if it does lose a regular season game, though. Georgia, like Alabama, had a quality non-conference win away from home, which will go a long way in the eyes of the committee. In a year in which the SEC depth isn’t what it usually is, that’s key.

While Penn State’s strength of schedule still hasn’t been great yet — even after the Michigan blowout — that won’t matter after the Lions get through a 3-week stretch that has trips to Ohio State and Michigan State remaining. The Lions can put themselves in the driver’s seat for a Playoff spot with a win in Columbus this weekend.

And to the surprise of many, TCU is absolutely deserving of a top-4 spot. The Horned Frogs have actually had the toughest schedule of the remaining four teams, though they haven’t been quite as dominant. With wins at Oklahoma State and vs. Will Grier’s West Virginia squad, not to mention the victory at Arkansas, TCU only gets left out of anyone’s Playoff right now because of name recognition. Kenny Hill has the Horned Frogs looking like the team to beat in the Big 12, and potentially the most surprising Playoff team yet.

John Crist, senior writer: If the regular season ended today, my picks for the College Football Playoff would be, in order, Alabama, Georgia, Penn State and TCU.

The Crimson Tide are unquestionably the top seed and continue to be the most consistent program in America by leaps and bounds. Despite the fact that coach Nick Saban had to replace a lot of big names off last year’s roster, ‘Bama appears to be as dominant as ever and is yet to truly be challenged.

I’m a believer in the Bulldogs, who have been blowout winners in six of their seven victories — their only narrow escape was on the road to what looks to be a pretty solid Notre Dame squad. The Nittany Lions play Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State consecutively, although they already beat up on the Wolverines this past Saturday. While the Horned Frogs are probably the Big 12’s only hope, they get the benefit of the doubt right now since they’re undefeated.

The only other unbeaten clubs representing Power 5 conferences are Wisconsin out of the Big Ten and Miami out of the ACC. Neither owns a W over a ranked opponent, though.

Neither USF (7-0) nor UCF (6-0) will have an impressive enough resume when it’s all said and done, even though they play each other on Thanksgiving weekend.

Jon Cooper, director of operations: 1. Alabama 2. Penn State 3. Georgia 4. TCU.

No surprises in my top four this week, but things get interesting next week with Georgia-Florida and Penn State-Ohio State. Ultimately, this thing will play itself out with Georgia potentially playing Alabama in the SEC Championship.

But those are the four best teams in college football after eight weeks. Clemson could make a strong argument depending on QB Kelly Bryant’s health.

Chris Wright, executive editor: I’m far less interested in where we begin than where we end. I’m sick of pointing out obvious flaws in Big Ten resumes. Unless Penn State goes undefeated, it’s easier to make a compelling case to leave the Big Ten contenders out — exactly zero quality wins over non-conference Power 5 opponents and one glaring, red flag home loss. The committee crushed the Big 12 in 2014 for its tepid scheduling; given the fact it had time and resources to adjust, the Big Ten’s is worse and more inexcusable.

The four most impressive teams to date have been: Alabama, Georgia, TCU and Notre Dame.

Penn State? Sorry, one home win against a barely-ranked Michigan team isn’t enough to offset an embarrassing non-conference slate. Penn State nearly lost at Iowa. It beat Pitt by 19 in Happy Valley. Great. Oklahoma State beat Pitt by 38 … at Pitt.

Notre Dame, which crushed Michigan State in East Lansing, by the way, would be undefeated against Penn State’s schedule, too. So would Oklahoma State, Washington, Washington State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, etc., etc.

I was in on the Irish before they destroyed then-No. 11 USC last weekend, but you’ll come around. Some already have.

The Nittany Lions have time to impress, but keep in mind, Oklahoma drilled Ohio State by 15 in Columbus — a week after the Buckeyes scored 49 against Indiana. So holding OSU to 16 points wasn’t the product of shaking off off-season rust. It was the product of the Big Ten, once again, struggling outside the friendly confines of its conference.

The Big 12 is better than the Big Ten this season, and my Playoff field reflects that.