College Football Playoff Bracket Week 5 Live Projections: Florida Only Team That Falters

Through Saturday’s games, Sports Illustrated projects the playoff seeding and matchups.

Florida quarterback Aaron Philo and the Gators were walloped by Missouri on Saturday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Update at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturday

What seemed on paper to be a potential Saturday full of CFP turnover wound up being anything but by the time midnight approached on the East Coast during Week 5. Only Florida faltered with a loss, and just BYU won by fewer than two scores among the top 12 teams coming into the weekend. 

That doesn’t ensure many changes to Sports Illustrated’s live playoff bracket of who is in and who is out, but at least a few teams go from hosting first-round games to on the road (and vice versa). We haven’t yet had a chaos-filled weekend where everything gets flipped around, but just because it hasn’t transpired doesn’t mean it won’t.

Update at 7 p.m. ET Saturday

There were nine ranked teams on the road this week, which offered up plenty of opportunities for teams to trip up on their own feet. Some threatened to do so, like Notre Dame for a while before asserting control against North Carolina. A few others took the opportunity to reassert their title credentials, such as Alabama. 

Then there was Florida, which apparently was unaware it had a game to play this week as it got absolutely trucked by a Missouri team which began the week answering questions as to why it was ranked at all. The loss doesn’t automatically dump the Gators out of the CFP race—they still own that victory over Ole Miss and looked excellent prior to Saturday afternoon—but it does put their future hopes in peril moving forward given the string of highly ranked foes ahead like Texas and Georgia.

Update at 4 p.m. ET Saturday

The first window of action on Saturday produced plenty of thrilling games and quite the statement of intent from Alabama as it piled up 56 points on the road at a ranked Mississippi State team. There wasn’t quite enough early chaos to produce any notable shift in terms of teams in the bracket however, but it did shake things up slightly in terms of the ordering of some of the SEC programs. 

As a result, the Crimson Tide are now hosting a first-round game, but they could ascend even further up the rankings depending on how the rest of the day goes with several more contenders in action later.

Update at noon ET Saturday

Is it too early to call this coming weekend ‘Separation Saturday’ or will College Football Playoff hopes continue to remain alive for a wide swath of teams in the sport? Given where we’re at with the calendar turning to October and the number of teams flirting with seeing their paths to an automatic qualifier fade, it might well be the former even before touching upon any of the ranked matchups on tap. 

With that in mind, here’s how the bracket looks going into Week 5 before it’s set to shift significantly throughout a busy Saturday in the sport. 

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Live Week 5 College Football Playoff Bracket

1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Notre Dame
4. Ohio State 
5. Alabama
6. Miami
7. Indiana 
8. Florida
9. Mississippi
10. LSU
11. BYU
12. Boise State

First Round

• No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Alabama
• No. 11 BYU at No. 6 Miami
• No. 10 LSU at No. 7 Indiana
• No. 9 Mississippi at No. 8 Florida

Quarterfinals

• Rose Bowl: No. 4 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 12 Boise State vs. No. 5 Alabama
• Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 Notre Dame vs. winner of No. 11 BYU vs. No. 6 Miami
• Peach Bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. winner of No. 10 LSU vs. No. 7 Indiana
• Cotton Bowl: No. 1 Texas vs. winner of No. 9 Mississippi vs. No. 8 Florida

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No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Alabama

Boise State is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its memorable Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma, which is yet another reminder that we’re all getting old. On the flip side, the Crimson Tide look like a bona fide national title contender if they play like they did amid the cowbells of Mississippi State. Quarterback Keelon Russell in his last three games: 76% passer, 970 yards, 10 TDs, zero INTs plus three scores on the ground. That’ll do. 

No. 11 BYU at No. 6 Miami

Both BYU and Miami took care of business on the road against quality opposition, but the Hurricanes were left hurting from their trip to Death Valley on Saturday night given the number of injuries they picked up. The good news is that Mario Cristobal’s side will have a perfectly timed off week to rest up while the Cougars have to hope they don’t peek too far ahead with Notre Dame on the horizon.

No. 10 LSU at No. 7 Indiana

The Tigers might as well have been on an off week given the caliber of their in-state opponent, but they likely won’t mind given who their next six games are against. As for their potential opponents, Curt Cignetti didn’t seem too happy with his team’s effort against Northwestern which translated to a 47–15 beatdown of Rutgers.  

No. 9 Mississippi at No. 8 Florida

The tough part for the Rebels is that the loss to Florida is going to linger extra long before they can get it out of their mouth next week against Vandy. The Gators won’t have to deal with an off week after getting trucked on the road at Missouri, which was a similar spot to how they upset Ole Miss after the Rebels were coming off an emotional home victory. That may just be life in the SEC nowadays, with the ninth conference game playing a factor as much as having so many closely bunched squads does in producing plenty of week-to-week changes in the standings. 

Rose Bowl: No. 4 Ohio State

Kinnick Stadium can be a house of horrors for highly ranked opponents, but that wasn’t the case for Ohio State as they passed a tough conference road test Saturday afternoon. If anything, that outing more than confirmed that Jeremiah Smith was the best individual player in college football this season even if he isn’t named the most outstanding at the end of the year.

Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 Notre Dame

Rainy conditions on the road against a team from the Carolina Triangle? Irish fans have seen that before and it typically doesn’t end well for their team. Thankfully, this year’s group seems to be a little different, overcoming the elements and a tricky Bill Belichick defense to notch a 15th win by double digits dating back to last season.

Peach Bowl: No. 2 Georgia

There was no Jared Curtis to play against for Kirby Smart, but that didn’t matter much for the Bulldogs as they continued to roll as part of an impressive start to the season. After throwing for three touchdowns and rolling up more than 400 yards of total offense as a team, is it maybe time to start giving Gunner Stockton his flowers at QB, too? Those in Athens, Ga., will certainly be saying so ahead of next week’s mega-matchup with Alabama.

Cotton Bowl: No. 1 Texas

The Longhorns are off this week ahead of their annual trip to Dallas for Red River. Strange things tend to happen in that game, no matter the records for either side, so one expects Steve Sarkisian & Co. not to take donning that golden hat lightly going into a must-win game against Oklahoma.

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