College Football Playoff bracket prediction: Where will Ohio State land after loss vs. Indiana?
INDIANAPOLIS — The next part of Ohio State football’s season begins Sunday.
The College Football Playoff bracket will be unveiled at noon Eastern with the Buckeyes sure to be in the field even after their loss against Indiana on Saturday in the Big Ten Championship Game.
The Buckeyes have been the top-ranked team in the country since the first top 25 was released in early November. Where will they land in the field after suffering their first loss of the season?
Here’s what we project.
Projected College Football Playoff teams
- Indiana (Big Ten champ)
- Georgia (SEC)
- Ohio State
- Texas Tech (Big 12)
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Tulane (American)
- James Madison (Sun Belt)
Where will Ohio State land in the CFP?
Ohio State was one of two teams to go undefeated in the regular season, so it would be reasonable for the Buckeyes to only drop one spot and enter the postseason as the nation’s second-ranked team.
However, we project Ohio State to be the No. 3 seed.
Georgia won its conference, and the Bulldogs avenged their lone loss this year by pummeling Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
UGA and OSU also have a common opponent: Texas. The Buckeyes opened their season with a 14-7 win against the Longhorns. Meanwhile, Georgia beat Texas by a final score of 35-10 on Nov. 15.
Will the ACC get a team in?
Power conference champs are not guaranteed a spot in the CFP, which is a common misconception about the bracket.
The five highest-ranked conference champions get automatic bids. The Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 will earn three of the five this year. The other two might go to the American (Tulane) and Sun Belt (James Madison), meaning the ACC would be left out.
Miami as an at-large bid might be the conference’s best chance at getting a team in. However, Alabama’s woeful performance against UGA might have helped keep Notre Dame in over Miami.
The committee has been clear that Miami’s win against Notre Dame would only be a deciding factor if the programs land next to each other in the rankings.
With Alabama losing, we project the Crimson Tide to drop one spot — therefore creating separation between Notre Dame at No. 9 and Miami at No. 11.
