12-team 2024 College Football Playoff rankings prediction after Week 3
Week 3 is officially in the books and Oregon football had the bounce-back that it so desperately needed.
Going into Corvallis as 17-point favorites following two close calls against Boise State and Idaho felt like free money for those taking Oregon State to cover, but something about the game felt different. It felt like Oregon was about to wake up. The first two weeks of the season were a massive wake-up call for the Ducks and it was time for them to prove themselves as that top-five team we expected in the preseason.
All Oregon did was come out and smash Oregon State, 49-14.
It was an ugly performance for the Beavers mostly because Oregon made them look bad. The rivalry that has been one-sided over the years continued to be just that and the Ducks improved to 3-0.
Unfortunately, Oregon didn't move up in the Week 4 AP Top 25 which was slightly surprising since the Ducks began the season No. 3 and are down to No. 9 despite being undefeated.
So let's throw those rankings aside for the moment and project what the College Football Playoff will look like after three weeks.
Rank | Team | Why they're here | Last projection |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Texas | SEC champ | 5 |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten champ | 2 |
3 | Miami | ACC champ | 3 |
4 | Kansas State | Big 12 champ | NR |
5 | Georgia | At-large | 1 |
6 | Alabama | At-large | 7 |
7 | Ole Miss | At-large | 6 |
8 | Missouri | At-large | 8 |
9 | Oregon | At-large | 10 |
10 | Tennessee | At-large | 9 |
11 | USC | At-large | 11 |
12 | Northern Illinois | Top-ranked G5 team | 12 |
I felt the need to move Oregon up a spot, rewarding the Ducks for beating a decent opponent on the road by 35 points in a rivalry game. The Ducks are probably better than that No. 9 ranking in the AP Top 25 and I'm close to moving them up closer to that 6-7 range in the playoff rankings, but they need to prove that they're more so the team we saw in Week 3 rather than the one from Weeks 1-2.
Where would you have Oregon ranked?