Bowl Projections: Ohio State Returns to College Football Playoff After Iowa Over, Oklahoma Goes Up

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A big uproar has shaken the projections of College Football Playoff. In week 7 it was the Purdue Boilermakers Spoilers beat previously undefeated Iowa, 24-7. The Hawkeyes were projected as the No. 2 seed, but they first dropped out of the playoff field.

Maybe they’ll come back later. That’s what happens to Ohio State, who were in the preseason CFP projection but did not last long due to a Week 2 loss at home to Oregon. Now the Buckeyes are back as the No. 3 seed, a place that is predicated on winning and securing the Big Ten Championship.

But what about Oregon? If the Ducks finished 12-1, would they not have to be ranked for Ohio State? Maybe, but they are not 12-1 in this projection. If they end up with that record, the CFP selection committee will have a tough call. Head-to-head, which is Oregon’s favorite, is a factor in the commission’s criteria, but so is the strength of the scheme. Ohio State would come from a stacked Big Ten East. Oregon is hit by a relatively poor Pac-12. Power of scheme would greatly promote the Buckeyes. That’s a problem for another time, though.

The projected No. 2 seed is now Oklahoma, which on Saturday did something it hadn’t done all season: win a game over an FBS opponent by more than seven points. Oklahoma led TCU 52-31. The Sooners are projected to face Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Georgia remains the presumed top seed in the playoffs after a 30-13 victory over Kentucky. The loss was the first of the season for the Wildcats, who could find themselves in a bowl of New Year’s Six if they could win and finish 11-1.

The Bulldogs are slated for a date in the Orange Bowl with Cincinnati. The Bearcats are still expected to be No. 4, though they should be the No. 2 team in the AP Top 25 on Sunday. Cincinnati did what was necessary with a dominant win over UCF on Saturday.

College Football Playoff

Jan 10	National Championship Indianapolis	Title game	Semi-final winners
December 31st	Orange bowl Miami Gardens, Fla.	Semi-finals	(1) Georgia vs. (4) Cincinnati
December 31st	Cotton is coming Arlington, Texas	Semi-finals	(2) Oklahoma vs. (3) Ohio State

These results will obviously have a ripple effect due to the projections, especially the rest of the New Year’s six games. Those expected matchups will be revealed on Sunday morning right in this space on CBS Sports.