College Football Playoff Projections Week 13: Back to Two SEC Teams?

Oct 28, 2014; Grapevine, TX, USA; Executive director Bill Hancock (far left) watches as ESPN unveils the first top 25 college football playoff rankings at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s a major newsflash: Mississippi State-Alabama did absolutely nothing to help us shape the College Football Playoff picture.

Alabama’s win over the Bulldogs did nothing but burst open the College Football Playoff race even more because now we have two legitimate one-loss SEC teams fighting for spots, and both can make the case that they belong. The worst nightmare for the College Football world was for Mississippi State to lose that game because it would knock somebody else out of the mix.

And that’s exactly what happened.

As the Selection Committee showed on Tuesday, it’s going to use the eye test significantly when doing its final rankings, and Mississippi State passes the eye test. That could trump the conference championship card.

But schedule strength is still a huge factor, and head-to-head may not be valued that much. That is the vibe we are getting from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

As we get set to bring you our next batch of College Football Playoff projections, note that while there are seven legitimate one-loss teams, the door has now opened up for two-loss teams to get in. And that is a very wide door that has opened the playoff back up to nearly 20 teams.

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Unfortunately, none of the one-loss teams play each other the rest of the year, so there might not be another Separation Saturday. But they all have tough schedules, so these last two weekends of college football could mean everything. The slate is going to be full of potential upset games.

Right now, we can safely say that only four teams control their destiny to reach the playoff. We’ll go into detail of what all the other teams need to have happen to reach the Playoff on this post. First, let’s take a look at the teams we are projecting to make the College Football Playoff and where they will rank.

And remember, these projections are based on where our teams are ranked right now and who they play the rest of the year.

Next: Projected College Football Playoff Top 4