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<\/p>\nKyle Bonagura<\/p>\n
ESPN Staff WriterCovers college football.Joined ESPN in 2014.Attended Washington State University.<\/p>\n
Mark Schlabach<\/p>\n
Close<\/a> Mark Schlabach<\/p>\n ESPN Senior WriterSenior college football writer There weren’t as many surprising results during Week 9 as we’ve grown accustomed to this season, but some surprising teams continued to make their mark.<\/p>\n Georgia Tech remained unbeaten by thumping Syracuse, Vanderbilt beat Missouri to improve to 7-1 for its best start since 1941, Indiana rolled over UCLA to stake its claim as the best team in college football, and Navy won again, moving to 7-0.<\/p>\n All four of those teams are in the mix for the College Football Playoff, something few would have foreseen a couple of months ago.<\/p>\n As with last season’s inaugural 12-team CFP, the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams, will make the field. Unlike last year, the four highest-ranked teams (not necessarily conference champions) will be awarded first-round byes. The other eight teams will meet in first-round games at the campus sites of seeds Nos. 5 through 8.<\/p>\n From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year’s Six bowls, with this season’s national championship game scheduled for Jan. 19 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 35-game slate of bowl games, beginning with the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n We’re here for all of it.<\/p>\n ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the playoff will play out, and we’ll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set.<\/p>\n Jump to a section: First-round games (at campus sites)<\/p>\n Friday, Dec. 19\/Saturday, Dec. 20<\/p>\n Times and networks TBD.<\/p>\n Bonagura: No. 12 Navy at No. 5 Oregon Bonagura: No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Georgia Bonagura: No. 10 BYU at No. 7 Ole Miss Bonagura: No. 9 Miami at No. 8 Georgia Tech First-round breakdown<\/p>\n Bonagura: At 7-0 (5-0 American Conference), Navy deserves some time in the spotlight, which is why I have the Midshipmen as the No. 12 seed for this week. They have earned it. But the next five games are brutal: at North Texas, at Notre Dame, South Florida, at Memphis, vs. Army. It’s one of the most difficult closing slates for any team in college football.<\/p>\n There is some margin of error along the way as Tulane (3-0) is the only other unbeaten team in the American and no one else in the conference has more than three league wins. A year after Army flirted with the playoff, Navy is very much in the mix.<\/p>\n All of ESPN. All in one place.<\/p>\n Watch college football and much more in the newly enhanced ESPN App. Stream the biggest games<\/a><\/p>\n Schlabach: Finally, there was some order in college football this weekend, as every AP top-10 team that played won, although Alabama, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt had to rally to get it done.<\/p>\n I dropped Oregon three spots to No. 9 after its lackluster 21-7 win over struggling Wisconsin at home. The game was played in torrential rain at times, and star quarterback Dante Moore<\/a> left in the third quarter with a face injury. The Ducks will have to play better when they travel to Iowa on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n I dropped Texas Tech and added Vanderbilt as my No. 11 team after the Commodores beat another ranked opponent, taking down Missouri 17-10 at home. It wasn’t pretty, but Diego Pavia<\/a> and Co. figured out a way to get it done. The Commodores play at Texas on Saturday.<\/p>\n Unbeaten Navy replaced South Florida as my fifth conference champion, after the Bulls fell 34-31 at Memphis on Saturday. But as Kyle noted, the Midshipmen are about to hit the meat of their schedule.<\/p>\n CFP quarterfinals<\/p>\n Wednesday, Dec. 31<\/p>\n CFP quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Thursday, Jan. 1<\/p>\n CFP quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential CFP quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Quarterfinals breakdown<\/p>\n Bonagura: With no major upsets near the top this week, there were no changes here for me. Three Big Ten teams, four SEC teams, plus Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Georgia Tech still feels very much like an unknown relative to the others. The Yellow Jackets haven’t beaten a ranked team and won’t play one (Georgia) for another month before a would-be ACC title game. The unbeaten record matters, but it will be interesting to see how the selection committee slots them when those rankings are released a week from Tuesday.<\/p>\n Schlabach: My top five teams remained unchanged, although I seriously considered elevating Indiana to No. 1. The Hoosiers steamrolled UCLA 56-6 at home Saturday, piling up 475 yards of offense and forcing three turnovers. The Bruins had been red hot but couldn’t get anything going against IU.<\/p>\n Texas A&M was equally impressive in its 49-25 rout of LSU on the road. Tiger Stadium is one of the most difficult road venues in the country, especially at night, but the Aggies didn’t have any problems. They outscored the Tigers 35-7 after halftime and won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1994.<\/p>\n There would be two SEC vs. SEC matchups in my quarterfinals, along with one Big Ten vs. Big Ten game. Hopefully, the CFP selection committee would set the seedings to avoid that, but it’s going to be difficult to do if there are four or five SEC teams and three from the Big Ten in the field.<\/p>\n CFP semifinals, national championship game<\/p>\n Thursday, Jan. 8<\/p>\n CFP semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Friday, Jan. 9<\/p>\n CFP semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Monday, Jan. 19<\/p>\n CFP national championship National championship breakdown<\/p>\n Bonagura: Here we are on Oct. 26, and Indiana has a strong case to be the No. 1 team in college football. Just as it looked like UCLA had tapped into something special, the Hoosiers calmly beat the Bruins by 50. These types of projections are always fun to go back and laugh at come playoff time, but two postseason games between Ohio State and Indiana — Big Ten title game and national championship — seem more likely every week.<\/p>\n Let’s also take a minute to acknowledge that it was the correct decision to go away from giving byes to the top four conference champions. It completely threw off the seeding and a natural seeding process for all teams, as is the case now, makes much more sense.<\/p>\n Schlabach: I feel good about the Buckeyes and Hoosiers reaching the semifinals with the way they’re currently playing. But it’s anyone’s guess as to who the other two teams might be.<\/p>\n Texas A&M has road games left at Missouri and Texas, and the Aggies haven’t been in this position in quite some time. Marcel Reed<\/a> should be a Heisman Trophy candidate and Mike Elko has done a fantastic job bringing some bite to the defense.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761496267_481_schlabach_mark.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\"\/)
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\nAuthor of seven books on college football
\nGraduate of the University of GeorgiaOct 26, 2025, 12:15 PM ET<\/p>\n
Playoff picks<\/a> | Quarterfinals<\/a>
Semis, title game<\/a> | Bowl season<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761135608_840__end_rule.png\")
College Football Playoff<\/p>\n
Schlabach: No. 12 Navy at No. 5 Georgia<\/p>\n
Schlabach: No. 11 Vanderbilt at No. 6 Ole Miss<\/p>\n
Schlabach: No. 10 BYU at No. 7 Georgia Tech<\/p>\n
Schlabach: No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Miami<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/r1401662_1296x729_16-9.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
7:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 7 Ole Miss vs. No. 2 Indiana
Schlabach: No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 4 Alabama<\/p>\n
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
Noon, ESPN
Bonagura: No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 4 Alabama
Schlabach: No. 7 Georgia Tech vs. No. 2 Indiana<\/p>\n
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California)
4 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 8 Georgia Tech vs. No. 1 Ohio State
Schlabach: No. 9 Oregon vs. No. 1 Ohio State<\/p>\n
Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)
8 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 3 Texas A&M
Schlabach: No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 Texas A&M<\/p>\nMalachi Hosley takes off during Georgia Tech’s win over Syracuse, which pushed the Yellow Jackets to 8-0.\u00a0AP Photo\/Mike Stewart<\/p>\n
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
7:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 1 Ohio State
Schlabach: No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 1 Ohio State<\/p>\n
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
7:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 2 Indiana
Schlabach: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 2 Indiana<\/p>\n
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
7:45 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 1 Ohio State
Schlabach: No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 1 Ohio State<\/p>\n