Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.
The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff was an absolute success.
Regardless of how the bracket plays out, it has already accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do. More regular-season games had more stakes. New faces made the field. The first-round games on campus will be electric. And the field appears wide open. It’s everything we wanted. Good job, everyone.
As for the bracket makeup itself, I don’t necessarily agree with every seed, but the committee got the right group. SMU was the correct decision over Alabama, at least in the current system where conference championships remain very important. Alabama’s wins were better, but its losses were worse. In the end, pulling a championship game loser out in favor of a three-loss team with bad losses would have upended the point of conference races. It was a close call. It was the right call.
Coming off conference championship weekend and ahead of the postseason, there was a shakeup at the top of this week’s penultimate edition of the Athletic 134.
GO DEEPER
College Football Playoff 2024 projections: Who are the national championship favorites?
1-10
My philosophy is to reward conference championship game winners and not ding the losers too much, except when they play each other. As a result, I have the same top seven as the committee. I said a week ago that a strong performance against Oregon would move Penn State above Notre Dame, and that’s what the Nittany Lions delivered in a 45-37 loss. Georgia’s second win against Texas jumped the Bulldogs up to No. 2, but I can’t drop the Longhorns much for an overtime loss.
The bottom end of the top 10 is different from the committee’s choices. Boise State and Arizona State move up to No. 8 and No. 9 with dominant championship wins against top-25 teams. SMU fell to No. 10 as a result of its loss to Clemson, but only because it was jumped by two other teams that played. While Arizona State has a blowout win against a Wyoming team that gave Boise State problems, the Sun Devils’ two regular season losses, compared to Boise State’s one last-second loss at No. 1 Oregon, keeps the Broncos ahead.
GO DEEPER
In defense of the College Football Playoff’s funky seeding format
11-25
| Rank | Team | Record | Prev |
|---|---|---|---|
|
11 |
11-1 |
9 |
|
|
12 |
9-3 |
11 |
|
|
13 |
10-2 |
13 |
|
|
14 |
9-3 |
14 |
|
|
15 |
9-3 |
15 |
|
|
16 |
10-3 |
25 |
|
|
17 |
10-2 |
16 |
|
|
18 |
9-3 |
17 |
|
|
19 |
9-3 |
18 |
|
|
20 |
10-3 |
19 |
|
|
21 |
9-3 |
20 |
|
|
22 |
11-1 |
28 |
|
|
23 |
9-3 |
21 |
|
|
24 |
10-3 |
22 |
|
|
25 |
10-2 |
23 |
Like SMU, Indiana fell back two places because it was jumped by two teams that had lopsided wins against top-25 opponents. Indiana has no such wins. The Hoosiers are still in my field, but their lack of quality wins left them open to getting jumped. Alabama remains the last team out of my 12-team CFP field.
Clemson moves up to No. 16 with its last-second win against SMU, but the Tigers stay behind South Carolina because of their loss to the Gamecocks a week ago. Army jumps up to No. 22 with a 35-14 win against Tulane, and UNLV falls to No. 24, jumped by Clemson and Army.
GO DEEPER
Alabama snubbed? The Crimson Tide’s case for Playoff inclusion
26-50
| Rank | Team | Record | Prev |
|---|---|---|---|
|
26 |
8-4 |
24 |
|
|
27 |
8-4 |
26 |
|
|
28 |
8-4 |
27 |
|
|
29 |
8-4 |
29 |
|
|
30 |
9-4 |
30 |
|
|
31 |
7-5 |
31 |
|
|
32 |
7-5 |
32 |
|
|
33 |
7-5 |
33 |
|
|
34 |
8-4 |
34 |
|
|
35 |
8-4 |
35 |
|
|
36 |
9-3 |
36 |
|
|
37 |
8-4 |
37 |
|
|
38 |
8-4 |
38 |
|
|
39 |
7-5 |
39 |
|
|
40 |
10-3 |
52 |
|
|
41 |
10-3 |
40 |
|
|
42 |
6-6 |
41 |
|
|
43 |
6-6 |
42 |
|
|
44 |
8-3 |
43 |
|
|
45 |
7-5 |
44 |
|
|
46 |
7-5 |
45 |
|
|
47 |
7-5 |
46 |
|
|
48 |
6-6 |
47 |
|
|
49 |
6-6 |
48 |
|
|
50 |
6-6 |
49 |
Tulane remains at No. 30 after the AAC title game loss to Army. Sun Belt champion Marshall jumps up to No. 40 after a 31-3 win against Louisiana.
51-75
Jacksonville State climbs to No. 60 with a 52-12 win against Western Kentucky in the CUSA title game, and Ohio moves up to No. 73 after beating Miami (Ohio) to win the MAC. The Bobcats stay behind Kentucky because of their 41-6 loss to the Wildcats in Week 4.
76-134
The Athletic 134 series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Photo: Loren Orr / Getty Images)
