COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — With a win Saturday over Penn State, No. 1 Ohio State can say it is the top-ranked team in the official College Football Playoff rankings.
After months of speculation, college football fans will finally get to see the initial playoff rankings revealed on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Barring a crazy upset, the Buckeyes should be No. 1, but the last projections likely will change once again.
Here is a final look at the projected playoff field using the AP rankings before we get the real thing and what games to watch on Saturday for Week 10.
Last projected bracket before initial rankings
NBC4 looks at the AP rankings for playoff projections, and this is the last time we will be using them to create a 12-team playoff bracket.
The top four seeds have stayed put for multiple weeks now as Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, and Alabama control their destinies to get into the playoff. The likes of Georgia and Oregon seem safely in there as well, barring any upsets.
Where things get interesting is once you get past Oregon, with Mississippi, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Miami rounding out the top 10. All still face decent opposition in the regular season and could see their spots go away.
The two teams hanging on are BYU and Memphis, which could easily lose their grasps on their conference leads with the wild nature of the Big 12 and American conferences, respectively.
It will be fascinating to see how the ranking committee seeds these teams, especially if Indiana hops over Ohio State for No. 1. There is a decent argument to make for the Hoosiers to be ranked higher over the Buckeyes based purely on in-season resume. We will get all these answers Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Teams’ odds to make the playoff
Among the 12 teams in the final projected field using the AP poll, the top three are so likely to get in that oddsmakers didn’t even bother putting up odds. Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M, who are all undefeated, have room for error to get into the field still, with two losses usually the most a playoff team can take.
Oddsmakers have Notre Dame as a likely option to make the field with the Fighting Irish winning out after losses to Miami and Texas A&M to start the season. The Irish have not been in the projections for weeks, but a 10-2 finish could put the reigning runners-up in as an at-large team.
Here is how the current odds stack up for teams to get into the playoff (odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook):
- Alabama (-900)
- Notre Dame (-330)
- Georgia (-310)
- Ole Miss (-300)
- Oregon (-280)
- Miami (-250)
- Texas Tech (-170)
- Georgia Tech (-120)
- Vanderbilt (+125)
- Louisville (+240)
- BYU (+260)
- Tennessee (+300)
- Tulane (+320)
- Cincinnati (+330)
- South Florida (+400)
- Memphis (+450)
- Virginia (+500)
- Texas (+500)
- Oklahoma (+500)
- North Texas (+500)
What to watch in Week 10
Navy at North Texas (Saturday, noon): Denton, Texas, will be rocking as the 7-1 Mean Green host the 7-0 Midshipmen, led by Hilliard native Blake Horvath at quarterback. Memphis is seen as the top playoff contender from the American, but the winner of this game increases its playoff odds drastically.
No. 18 Oklahoma at No. 14 Tennessee (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.): There is nothing like a regular-season elimination game to start November in the Southeastern Conference. The Sooners and Volunteers enter with two losses each, and although the winner might not be a shoo-in for the playoff, the loser’s playoff aspirations are over.
No. 17 Cincinnati at No. 24 Utah (Saturday, 10:15 p.m.): Bearcats fans have scheduled multiple naps for this Saturday so they can stay up for a late kickoff from Salt Lake City. This all-ranked Big 12 showdown has a Cincinnati team that can realistically make its second playoff, while Utah tries to move up the conference standings.
