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Forde’s College Football Playoff Projection After Week 5: New No. 1 Team Enters

Week 5 delivered enough results to finally get a sense of top teams’ true potential. Here’s how Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde sees the CFP field.

Pat Forde

After a wild Week 5, the College Football Playoff field gets a huge shake-up.
After a wild Week 5, the College Football Playoff field gets a huge shake-up. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Good news: Everyone has finally played someone, in terms of at least one legitimate opponent. So my bracket can reflect that, and it starts with a new No. 1 in Oregon after the Ducks stood tall in Happy Valley to defeat Penn State.

Seeding

  1. Oregon 
  2. Ohio State 
  3. Miami 
  4. Oklahoma 
  5. Ole Miss
  6. Indiana 
  7. Penn State
  8. Texas A&M
  9. Vanderbilt
  10. Texas Tech
  11. Alabama
  12. Memphis 

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First Round

  • No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Ole Miss
  • No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Indiana 
  • No. 10 Texas Tech at No. 7 Penn State
  • No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 8 Texas A&M

Quarterfinals 

  • Sugar Bowl: No. 4 Oklahoma vs. winner of No. 12 Memphis–No. 5 Ole Miss winner 
  • Orange Bowl: No. 3 Miami vs. winner of No. 11 Alabama–No. 6 Indiana
  • Cotton Bowl: No. 2 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 10 Texas Tech–No. 7 Penn State
  • Rose Bowl: No. 1 Oregon vs. winner of No. 9 Vanderbilt–No. 8 Texas A&M

Teams also considered

  • Georgia Tech
  • Georgia
  • Iowa State
  • Missouri
  • Texas
  • Notre Dame
  • BYU
  • Tulane
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • LSU

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Pat Forde
PAT FORDE

Pat Forde is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who covers college football and college basketball as well as the Olympics and horse racing. He cohosts the College Football Enquirer podcast and is a football analyst on the Big Ten Network. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Forde has won 28 Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest awards, has been published three times in the Best American Sports Writing book series, and was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. A past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and member of the Football Writers Association of America, he lives in Louisville with his wife. They have three children, all of whom were collegiate swimmers.

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