2024 Week Two 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
Week one of College football was as exciting as any in recent memory. The chance that week two would exceed it was small, but boy, it delivered.
We had two teams drop out of the college football playoff rankings this week, with Oregon barely pulling out a win over Boise State and Notre Dame paying Northern Illinois $1.4 million to beat the Irish at home. Last season, the Ducks looked electric, with Bo Nix leading the offense. Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel wasn't bad, with 243 yards passing and two touchdowns, but the offense was just average.
On the other hand, Notre Dame's offense was barely functional against a mediocre Group of Five school. The Irish received the benefit of the doubt after their performance against Texas A&M, but NIU is far from SEC competition.
2024 Week One 12-team CFP prediction
Rank | Team | Why are they here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ohio State | Big 10 Champion | 1 |
2 | Georgia | SEC Champion | 2 |
3 | Utah | Big 12 Champion | 3 |
4 | Miami | ACC Champion | 4 |
5 | Texas | At-large | 5 |
6 | Ole Miss | At-large | 7 |
7 | Penn St | At-large | 6 |
8 | USC | At-large | Not Ranked |
9 | Missouri | At-large | 11 |
10 | Oklahoma State | At-large | 9 |
11 | Alabama | At-large | Not Ranked |
12 | UNLV | MW Champion | 12 |
Alabama and USC are the newcomers this week. The Trojans have looked like a scary team, beating LSU in a classic and taking care of business against Utah State. Moss Miller is also averaging 300-plus yards a game at a 72 percent clip.
Alabama is Alabama, of course, but they were originally left off of the rankings because their schedule is a gauntlet, and Kalen DeBoer isn't Nick Saben. Now, with how CFP ranking teams are falling left and right, the Tide cracks the list for the first time.
A few other changes you'll notice are that Penn State and Oklahoma State are falling slightly. The Nittany Lions held on against Bowling Green, but Ole Miss has an offense that might punt 20 fewer times this year, so the Rebels overtake Penn State.
The Pokes won, but Arkansas — a team picked to finish 14th in the SEC — outclassed Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Razorbacks gained nearly 650 yards of offense but shot themselves in the football too many times in the second half. The only reason the Cowboys haven't dropped completely out is that Arkansas kind of looked legit. We'll have to wait and see if that's the case or if Oklahoma State is just pretending to be a top-25 team.
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