2024 Week 4 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
The margins of discrepancy between the top teams from SEC football and the Big Ten at the top of the rankings this week has caused some seemingly major shake ups in the College Football Playoff predictions after Week 3.
Post-Week 3 2024 College Football Playoff Predictions as SEC football takes the lead for the at-large bids
Texas football moving up to No. 1 in the AP Poll after the previously No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs nearly fell short of the Kentucky Wildcats on the road is a good example of how thin the margins can be among the top teams in the nation early this season in college football. The SEC still has six out of the top seven teams in this week's AP Poll.
What's becoming abundantly clear, though, is that the SEC might have the three or four best teams in all of college football this season. The top half of the conference really is that good it seems through the season's first three weeks in 2024.
Specifically for the Longhorns, redshirt junior quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered an injury that could cause him to miss the next week at least. Redshirt freshman Arch Manning is expected to be the quarterback for next weekend against ULM.
Here's a look at the updated 12-team College Football Playoff bracket predictions, with the top group of teams in the country starting to establish themselves after Week 3.
Rank | Team | Why are they here | Previous rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ohio State | Big Ten Champion | 2 (+1) |
2 | Texas | SEC Champion | 6 (+4) |
3 | Miami | ACC Champion | 3 (--) |
4 | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 4 (--) |
5 | Tennessee | At-Large | 5 (--) |
6 | Alabama | At-Large | 11 (+5) |
7 | Ole Miss | At-Large | 7 (--) |
8 | USC | At-Large | 8 (--) |
9 | Georgia | At-Large | 1 (-8) |
10 | Mizzou | At-Large | 9 (-1) |
11 | Penn State | At-Large | 10 (-1) |
12 | Boise State | Highest-Rated G5 Conference Champion | 12 (--) |
For the first week this season, no one dropped out of this week's College Football Playoff predictions for the 12-team field. Thus, no one new has entered the conversation this week for our Playoff projections.
Among the 12 teams that all stuck around in this week's Playoff projections, Georgia was the biggest faller. Georgia's near-upset at the hands of Kentucky was enough to slide them below the other four top teams in the SEC after three weeks.
The two biggest gainers were from the SEC, the Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide. First-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer proved that his offense can consistently be explosive through the air and on the ground, even in tough road environments against the Wisconsin Badgers from the Big Ten.
According to the ESPN Playoff predictor, Texas is the only team after Week 3 with over a 90 percent chance of making the 12-team CFP.
This week's three teams on the outside looking in (in order from top to bottom) are the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Oregon Ducks, and Kansas State Wildcats.
Check out our latest Texas football articles on Hook'em Headlines
feed