College Football Playoff 2024 projections: Hello Deion! Colorado is in as the No. 4 seed

Alabama’s 42-13 blitzkrieg at LSU coupled with Ole Miss’ 28-10 rout of Georgia has created quite the muddled mess in the SEC. At least eight different teams could still reach the SEC Championship Game.

For the purposes of this exercise, I’m projecting the Dawgs to beat Tennessee next week and Texas to win at Texas A&M. Based on my colleague Seth Emerson’s calculations, this would likely produce a Texas-Alabama matchup in Atlanta, and I like the Tide in that one.

Meanwhile, at this rate, at least one SEC team is going to finish 10-2 and miss the Playoff. My guess is Tennessee, which would have just one Top 25 win (against Alabama) and possibly only three wins over teams that finish .500 or better. Unless of course the Vols edge out an 11-1 Indiana team with no Top 25 wins.

Elsewhere, Oregon has done absolutely nothing wrong, but I’m back to riding Ohio State if they meet in a Big Ten Championship Game rematch. Penn State has an underwhelming resume, but given the committee had them No. 6 last week, an 11-1 Nittany Lions team would likely be seeded above 11-2 Texas and 10-2 Georgia.

Finally, Colorado is my new projected Big 12 champ. The Buffs are rolling. It pains me to leave 9-0 BYU out of the field entirely, but the Cougars’ luck is going to run out at some point, possibly at Arizona State in a couple of weeks. A 10-2 Ole Miss team with lopsided wins over Georgia and a possible 9-3 South Carolina team gets my last at-large spot.

(Photo: Patrick Mulligan / Getty Images)