Miami’s loss opens the door for a scenario only Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC counterpart Greg Sankey could love, with the top four seeds and attendant byes all going to teams from their conferences. For now, those two leagues have the top five spots, which seem to be comfortably ahead of everyone else.
The difficulty comes in selecting and seeding everyone else. Miami still has two quality wins (Notre Dame and South Florida). BYU got its best win of the season Saturday over rival Utah. Georgia Tech also got its best win of the year, at Duke, thanks to some fierce red zone defense. Oregon bounced back, Mississippi took a step back and Vanderbilt won a potential elimination game against LSU—to set up another elimination game this week against Missouri.
College Football Playoff Seeding After Week 8
- Ohio State (7–0)
- Indiana (7–0)
- Texas A&M (7–0)
- Alabama (6–1)
- Georgia (6–1)
- Miami (6–1)
- BYU (7–0)
- Georgia Tech (7–0)
- Oregon (6–1)
- Mississippi (6–1)
- Vanderbilt (6–1)
- South Florida (6–1)
Also considered
- Notre Dame
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Virginia
- Louisville
- Texas Tech
First-round games
- No. 12 South Florida at No. 5 Georgia
- No. 11 Vanderbilt at No. 6 Miami
- No. 10 Mississippi at No. 7 BYU
- No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Georgia Tech
Quarterfinals
- Cotton Bowl: No. 4 Alabama vs. winner of No. 12 South Florida at No. 5 Georgia
- Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. winner of No. 11 Vanderbilt at No. 6 Miami
- Orange Bowl: No. 2 Indiana vs. winner of No. 10 Mississippi at No. 7 BYU
- Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Georgia Tech
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde: College Football Playoff Projected Bracket After Week 8.