{"id":391507,"date":"2026-09-05T16:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T16:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/391507\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T16:58:11","slug":"college-football-playoff-bracket-week-1-live-projections-usc-miami-make-early-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/391507\/","title":{"rendered":"College Football Playoff Bracket Week 1 Live Projections: USC, Miami Make Early Statements"},"content":{"rendered":"

After last week\u2019s lovely Week Zero appetizer<\/a> and some midweek action from coast to coast, the first full Saturday of the season is upon us<\/a>!<\/p>\n

As usual, the chase for the College Football Playoff will be top of mind for many fan bases in 2026 and the road to Las Vegas is full of hopeful contenders as Week 1 gets underway. It\u2019s not the most intense slate of matchups on tap this weekend<\/a>, but it features plenty of games which will have significant implications that the selection committee will be paying close attention to.<\/p>\n

Using the Sports Illustrated preseason projections<\/a>, and based on some of the early looks at teams, here\u2019s how the bracket looks before kickoff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Live Week 1 College Football Playoff BracketNotre DameOregonGeorgiaIndiana\u00a0Ohio StateMiamiTexas\u00a0LSUMississippiUSCBYUBoise StateFirst RoundNo. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio StateNo. 11 BYU at No. 6 MiamiNo. 10 USC at No. 7 TexasNo. 9 Mississippi at No. 8 LSUQuarterfinalsSugar Bowl: No. 4 Indiana vs. winner of No. 12 Boise State vs. No. 5 Ohio StatePeach Bowl: No. 3 Georgia vs. winner of No. 11 BYU vs. No. 6 MiamiRose Bowl: No. 2 Oregon vs. winner of No. 10 USC vs. No. 7 TexasFiesta Bowl: No. 1 Notre Dame vs. winner of No. 9 Mississippi vs. No. 8 LSUNo. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes top the polls and should have no trouble in their opener against Ball State, which will serve as a preseason game to warm up for their trip to Austin next week. That game against Texas should help shape who one of the real early favorites for the national title will be. As for the Broncos, the newfound Pac-12 member will begin the season as the default selection to nab the Group of 6 bid but face stiff competition from teams like Memphis.<\/p>\n

No. 11 BYU at No. 6 Miami\u00a0<\/p>\n

Until we get a good look at Texas Tech and its quarterback situation, the Cougars are SI\u2019s early pick to win the Big 12 and get over the hump of making the playoff. Meanwhile, last season\u2019s national runner-up, Miami, got off to a flying start in the Bay Area on Friday night as Malachi Toney\u2019s Heisman Trophy campaign looks alive and well after torching the Cardinal. Good luck to the rest of the ACC handling the Hurricanes if they\u2019re going to keep playing like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No. 10 USC at No. 7 Texas<\/p>\n

Lincoln Riley apparently heard enough about the closer than expected score from Week Zero and kept the starters in long enough against Fresno State to notch an impressive shutout on Friday night. Combined with an offense that has seen plenty of freshmen look the part, the Trojans appear to be firmly in the mix as one of the contenders in the Big Ten early on. As for the Longhorns, we\u2019ll get a better sense of Arch Manning\u2019s progress under center and the team\u2019s depth under Steve Sarkisian next week against Ohio State.<\/p>\n

No. 9 Mississippi at No. 8 LSU<\/p>\n

Trinidad Chambliss might be the face of college football and we\u2019ll have to wait an extra day to see him in action for what is this week\u2019s only ranked-vs.-ranked matchup against Louisville. Until then, his old coach Lane Kiffin seems to have no issue soaking up all the headlines from the slew of antics emerging out of Baton Rouge prior to the Tigers\u2019 game against Clemson.<\/p>\n

Sugar Bowl: No. 4 Indiana<\/p>\n

How will new quarterback Josh Hoover look in replacing the Heisman Trophy winner in Bloomington, Ind.? That will be worth paying attention to closely as the Hoosiers hang a banner and kick their season off against a very new-look North Texas.<\/p>\n

Peach Bowl: No. 3 Georgia<\/p>\n

What a strange offseason it was given the buzz around the Bulldogs has been close to nothing at all. The youngest team in the sport will have no issue for the start of nonconference play this week, but plenty of tests await in SEC play.<\/p>\n

Rose Bowl: No. 2 Oregon<\/p>\n

The Ducks\u2019 record against Boise State isn\u2019t as good as you would think over the years but if this team is truly a national title contender like everyone believes, they should have no issues at Autzen Stadium this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fiesta Bowl: No. 1 Notre Dame<\/p>\n

The biggest chip on the shoulder of any team is probably on the Irish after the way things went down at the end of last season and being left out of the playoff. We\u2019ll see if that gets channeled into the matchup at Lambeau Field on Sunday against a much improved Wisconsin side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PODCAST: Listen to SI\u2019s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, hosted by Pat Forde, below or on Apple<\/a> and Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on SI\u2019s college YouTube channel<\/a> or on SI TV.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After last week\u2019s lovely Week Zero appetizer and some midweek action from coast to coast, the first full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-391507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}