The Commodores’ first win as a top-10 team in decades earns them a spot in the field. Carly Mackler / Getty Images
Welcome to my College Football Playoff projections, which will be published weekly through the end of the season, updated and adjusted after each Saturday’s results. Check out the projected field according to Austin Mock’s model, which will look different from my opinion-based selections.
It was a chalky kind of week in college football, which led to no real shakeups and little drama in these updated CFP projections. But I did make some necessary adjustments.
It’s a tight race at the top, with big wins by Indiana and Texas A&M to stay within range of idle Ohio State. There are questions about which of the three teams is most deserving of the top spot. For now, we’ll go with status quo, but the Aggies’ blowout win at LSU was impressive.
The SEC’s logjam of one-loss teams ends with all four in the field, and the order is pretty easy. Alabama beat Georgia and Vanderbilt, while the Bulldogs edged Ole Miss. The Rebels have a slightly better resume than the Commodores, whose win against Missouri vaults them into the field this week. Oregon slips a spot after a methodical win against Wisconsin, while Ole Miss flips places with Miami after beating Oklahoma on the road.
Texas Tech gets the edge over BYU for the Big 12 spot, while Georgia Tech’s dominant victory against Syracuse helps the Yellow Jackets grab the last at-large spot. BYU and Notre Dame (which falls out amid a week off) remain on the cusp of the field. With USF’s loss to Memphis, Tulane slides into the fifth and final conference champion spot, just ahead of Sun Belt front-runner James Madison. Navy, the American’s lone undefeated team, has too daunting a remaining schedule to be moved into the field.
Five upcoming games with CFP significance in Week 10 (all times Eastern): Vanderbilt at Texas, noon (ABC); Penn State at Ohio State, noon (Fox); South Carolina at Ole Miss, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Oklahoma at Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. (ABC); USC at Nebraska, 7:30 p.m. (NBC).
Oct 26, 2025
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