2024 Week 3 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction
Week 3 in college football may not have been quite as exciting as Week 2 was, but it still showed a lot. With only two ranked matchups on the docket, there was a chance we could see some big upsets with ranked and unranked teams, but there wasn't any excitement like Northern Illinois and Notre Dame from last week.
The biggest games of the weekend were No. 14 Kansas State vs. No. 20 Arizona and No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 24 Boston College rankings-wise. Both of the higher-ranked teams took home the win but in very different fashions. Kansas State put a beat down on Arizona and Missouri had to break a sweat to put Boston College away.
There were some shake-ups in the AP Top 25 rankings with the Texas Longhorns dethroning Georgia's No. 1 ranking as the two switched spots after Georgia's close call against Kentucky.
How will this all affect the College Football Playoff rankings, well here are my predictions on what the rankings look like after Week 3.
Ranking | Team | Why are they here | Previous Ranking |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champion | 1 |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten Champion | 2 |
3 | Kansas State | Big 12 Champion | 4 |
4 | Miami | ACC Champion | 3 |
5 | Texas | At-large | 5 |
6 | Ole Miss | At-large | 7 |
7 | Oregon | At-large | 9 |
8 | Missouri | At-large | 6 |
9 | Tennessee | At-large | 8 |
10 | Penn State | At-large | 10 |
11 | Notre Dame | At-large | 11 |
12 | Boise State | MW Champion | 12 |
There are no new teams making an appearance in this prediction, but there was some shuffling around by the teams that were already in. The top two teams and the bottom three teams stay put, even though Texas replaced Georgia in the AP Poll, the Longhorns played UTSA, let's not go crazy.
The choice to flip Kansas State and Miami was a tough one, but the Wildcats can say they have played a good team so far this season. Miami opened the season against Florida, but the Gators are currently fighting Florida State for the "Worst Team in Florida" title right now. They followed that game with games against Florida A&M and Ball State, games the Hurricanes should have dominated in.
Kansas State has beat a ranked opponent with the win over No. 20 Arizona in Week 3 and beat a very good Group of Five team with the win over Tulane in Week 2. The Wildcats have proved themselves so far and they also have the added advantage of playing in a tougher conference in the Big 12 while Miami plays in the ACC.
There was also some shuffling around in the middle of the rankings with Missouri dropping a bit after struggling against Boston College and Oregon finally showing some dominance with the win over Oregon State.